


Just For You

by luvtheheaven



Category: Gilmore Girls
Genre: F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-11-29
Updated: 2011-05-08
Packaged: 2018-01-18 00:54:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 12
Words: 23,496
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1408972
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/luvtheheaven/pseuds/luvtheheaven
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A Luke/Jess uncle/nephew relationship fic (pro-Java Junkie and Literati!!) that takes place in season 7.</p><p>Intense drama/angst at times. I chose to include the "major character death" warning but... well, I don't want to be spoilery, but please don't read it feeling sure that anyone in particular will die. They might survive. It's just... At the end of chapter 5 I'll include an author's note explaining myself.</p><p>This was my first attempt at writing fanfiction ever!! It is not my best work, I've probably improved a bit since writing this, but I still think it's worth reading. ;) In fact, re-reading it myself now, I am quite proud of this thing. These 12 chapters were written and originally posted on Fanfiction.net over the course of slightly over 6 months, from November 29, 2010 through May 8, 2011.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Luke's Birthday

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Special thanks to Taryn (hollywoodgirl2005 on YouTube, hollywoodgirl05 on twitter) for proofreading this first chapter back in 2010 and giving me lots of helpful suggestions to strengthen my sentences and my writing in general. :D Later in the fic, fanfiction.net writers allienicole16 and Emiiily become my betas and also deserve credit for helping me. ;)
> 
> I tried to be accurate to the show as much as possible. This story takes place immediately after 7x08 "Introducing Lorelai Planetarium" aired. That episode aired on Tuesday November 21, 2006. Luke is supposed to be a Scorpio so November 22nd being his birthday would work – I'm pretty sure we never found out his actual birthday on the show. Everything that happened in the show up to and including 7x08 "Introducing Lorelai Planetarium" is canon for this story. But from now on, all the events are slightly different, as should be obvious… ;)
> 
> And remember, this was my first attempt EVER at writing fanfiction, so please be forgiving if it is not exactly perfect. You may give constructive criticism in the comments but keep in mind that I am a different writer today than I was when I posted this.

After a long night of staying with April in the hospital, Luke returned to his apartment. It was 10:00am. Anna had come to pick her up about an hour ago. Her operation had gone very smoothly, and she had been her usual happy and talkative self this morning, despite being on medication for the pain. April actually seemed excited to have first-hand knowledge of what surgery was like, and Luke suspected she'd brag about her experience when she went back to school, and maybe even base her next science fair project around it. Luke smiled to himself as he thought about April, thinking with pride of how smart she was and how relieved he was that she was okay. Now he knew what it was like to worry about your child, to truly worry about them. He hated the feeling.

Luke yawned. He had napped intermittently while at April's bedside, but ultimately felt like he'd been up all night. The diner was closed "for an emergency" according to the sign that Lane had kindly made per Luke's request. Luke was too tired to work today and, instead of making Lane and Caesar run the whole diner, he decided to just close for a day. Luke just wanted to go to sleep.

He took off his coat and baseball cap and started to take off his shoes when he glanced at the calendar on his wall. Suddenly he felt really depressed. It was the 22nd of November – his birthday. He had forgotten his own birthday, which in and of itself was depressing. But to make him feel even more pathetic and alone, Luke came to the realization that no one would be remembering his birthday this year. Luke was sure of this fact, because the only person who usually remembered was Lorelai, and she was… married to Christopher now. Married.

 _Wow,_ Luke thought. He'd been trying to convince himself that she viewed sleeping with Christopher as a mistake, but who was he kidding? She loved Christopher enough to marry him! He should have realized she didn't regret it when he'd overheard the rumor that they were dating around the time that the town stunk of rotten pickles… _But still…_ Luke thought. He at least thought she'd need a bit more time to get over him. God knows he did… Luke couldn't really imagine ever getting over Lorelai. That thought was way too depressing so he turned his thoughts to focus on the following date on the calendar. Thursday the 23rd. Thanksgiving. He'd just work the diner, he had no one to spend it with. At least he could feed people breakfast and maybe Kirk and Lulu or Babette and Morey would come in again this year since neither couple liked cooking themselves. Hopefully. _Wait a minute,_ Luke shuddered to himself. _How pathetic am I that I'm actually hoping Kirk comes into the diner?_ Realizing how ridiculous it was to want Kirk in his diner, Luke reconsidered accepting the invitation his very pregnant sister had extended to him. Sure the food probably wouldn't be edible at Liz and TJ's house and he knew she'd only invited him out of pity, but still… maybe? He was too tired to decide what he wanted to do tomorrow. He decided to go to sleep and make up his mind when he woke up.

Around 4:00pm the phone rang, waking Luke up. The phone in his apartment was the same number as the one in the diner. He'd never bothered to change it because this way he wouldn't miss his home calls when he was busy working all-hours in the diner or, in this rare case, he wouldn't miss his work calls when he was at home. He answered, expecting it to be a to-go order. He didn't get many of those but a few regular customers preferred to pick up his food to eat at their homes.

"Hello, Luke's Diner, sorry but we're closed today." He waited for the most-likely disappointed customer's response.

"Hi…" a familiar voice replied, wavering a bit with uncertainty. "I was just calling to wish you a happy birthday! I had hoped now would be a slow time in the diner, the pre-dinner lull… but you're closed? Why?"

"Jess?" Luke asked incredulously. He knew it was Jess' voice but he was shocked that his nephew had remembered his birthday. Not only that, but he had taken into consideration what time to call. It was so nice of him, and Luke's heart warmed at the thought.

"Yeah Luke, it's me. Is everything okay? You never close the diner unless something's wrong."

Luke sighed. "Everything's fine now. But well, I was in the hospital all last night so I needed to catch up on my sleep today."

"Geez Luke. I'm sorry, did I wake you? And what happened, were you hurt or something?" Jess sounded very concerned and a bit guilty.

"No," Luke reassured him, "you didn't wake me up." Luke didn't know why he was lying. "And no I'm not hurt or anything. April had appendicitis; I had to take her to the hospital. She had an operation to, you know, remove her appendix."

"Oh!" Jess was a bit taken aback by the news. "Wow. Well I'm glad you knew to take her to the hospital."

"Actually I didn't," Luke admitted, his voice dropping to such a low volume that it became hard for Jess to hear. Luke continued to mumble, "I had to call Lorelai, she was the one who knew it was probably her appendix. I'm the idiot who thought she was just sick." There were a few seconds of silence. "You know as well as anyone, Jess, that I'm terrible at this whole parenting thing."

"Luke," Jess tried to disagree, but Luke cut him off.

"No Jess, I am! When you were with me I had no clue what to do with you! I didn't even know what you were doing or where you were most of the time... And then you ran away from me!" Luke took a breath for a second, willing his voice not to crack. "And then last night, April yelled at me that I suck as a dad, right after I told her that she couldn't go to her friend's party. It turns out she was right," Luke's voice faltered and cracked a little, betraying him. "She laid there for over an hour clutching her side in pain and I didn't even think of appendicitis!" Luke wanted to cry but of course stopped himself, catching his breath.

"Oh, Luke…" Jess's heart broke for his uncle. He never realized that he'd made Luke feel like a failure at parenting. "You were a great guardian when I lived with you; you cared, you tried your best, you…" Jess's voice was now faltering, so he paused. "Luke, you loved me. Loved me in a way that Liz never did." Jess's voice was determined and steady now. "And you love April. I can tell just how much from this phone call alone. You knew exactly what to do – you called Lorelai. That's what a responsible parent would do, call for help... even if it means calling the person you've been trying to avoid because she broke your heart and is dating someone else now! You didn't consider your own feelings, you just put April first. You're a great dad, and I'm sure April knows it. She was in pain and feverish when she yelled that hurtful thing at you! You know she didn't mean it. You saved her life, Luke. From what you've told me, she's a very smart kid. She knows that she owes her life to you, Luke."

A tear escaped from Luke's eye and left a streak on his face. He swallowed so he could try to speak with a straight voice. "Wow." He paused for a second. "Thank you so much, Jess. That was…" he tried to think of the right words to say. "That was the nicest birthday call I've ever gotten, that's for sure."

Jess and Luke were silent for a minute, but they felt like somehow they could hear each other smiling over the phone. Luke broke the silence. "Oh. By the way, Lorelai and Rory's dad got married. Just thought you might want to be updated."

Jess's smile faded. "Oh that really sucks Luke. I'm sorry."

Luke didn't want to linger on the subject. "So, I'm sure you're really busy writing that second 'short novel' of yours, or reading other potential books that may or may not get published depending on your opinion of them, or something. Truncheon is a full-time job for you, right?" Luke could have sworn he could hear Jess smirk.

"Yeah, I guess I better get back to my work."

"Bye, Jess."

"Bye… oh but Luke?"

"Yes?"

"Please take Liz up on her offer to have Thanksgiving with her. She told me she invited you. She invited me too, but I already had plans. I'll be eating with Matt's family… but that's no excuse for you to spend the holiday alone, or working, or whatever."

"Okay, Jess." Luke smiled. "I'll go eat with your mom and TJ, just for you."


	2. Doula's Birth

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I tried to be as accurate to the show as possible again, with Liz's & Jess's age, and what Liz said she did during her first pregnancy, and stuff. I used what the show specifically said and then filled in the blanks myself. Hopefully I didn't make any mistakes.

Luke stood by his sister as she screamed in labor. Liz was still a little girl when she had Jess. She had barely graduated high school. She was eighteen and had drank, smoked, and gotten high all throughout her pregnancy. The fact that Jess wasn't brain damaged truly was a miracle. Twenty-one years later and Liz was so much more responsible during this pregnancy. And, as much as Luke didn't understand TJ, he knew he would be (or at least try to be) a better father to this new nephew or niece of his than Jimmy was to Jess.

Luke was a bit weirded out by this home birth thing, but at least it showed that Liz had the ability to plan ahead now. You had to arrange for a midwife, and buy plastic sheets and all sorts of stuff in preparation. She'd really done it all. She was actually ready for this baby to arrive. Luke almost didn't believe it. Liz was a totally different person this time around, and she was really going to be a good mother. Luke was finally truly proud of his little sister, and it was a wonderful feeling.

Luke watched Liz, who was tired and very sweaty, but still somehow more beautiful than usual. Liz was now holding Doula in her arms, and Luke considered Jess's age and thought about how Liz was technically old enough to be Doula's grandmother. She was 39 now, so she'd be a young grandmother, but still... Luke thought about the implications of what that meant for him, seeing as how he was even older than Liz. He couldn't believe how time flies. Suddenly Luke was distracted from his thoughts by Liz and TJ.

"Come on Luke, Doula wants you to hold her," TJ coaxed.

"Yeah Luke," Liz insisted.

"Oh I don't know..." Luke trailed off, trying to refuse the offer. But TJ was already placing the precious infant into his arms. She was so beautiful, and Luke was suddenly overwhelmed with a feeling of loss. He had missed out on this moment in April's life. He'd missed out on the first twelve years of it. And now Anna wanted to take her away from him again. He was torn emotionally, and couldn't decide whether he was furious at her, or just heartbroken for himself. He turned back to Doula. She was sleeping in his arms, so tiny, so fragile... but so full of potential and possibility. He cherished the moment, knowing it would probably be his last chance to ever hold a newborn baby. Luke realized how wrong he was to ever think he didn't want kids – now he wished he could have a baby so badly. Luke had actually known he wanted a baby with Lorelai for years, probably since he'd fixed her shoe at that dance marathon... he smiled fondly for a moment. But the next moment he was sad again, knowing that now he'd never have that baby. He turned back to Liz and TJ. Luke gently gave Doula back to Liz. Liz smiled at her, and, even though the action was so simple and almost a reflex, it was probably the sweetest thing Luke had ever seen his sister do in his entire life. Then Liz looked up at Luke.

"Big brother, can you do me a favor please?" she asked sort of timidly. Luke knew she was exhausted from her recent labor, of course, but he sensed an additional tone of fear... or was it guilt? In her voice.

"Of course Liz, anything," Luke said without a second thought. Her eyes darted away, avoiding Luke's.

"I think Jess should meet his sister. Can you call him for me?" She almost sounded sad. Luke was confused as to why this favor was such a big deal, and why she was avoiding eye contact.

"Oh yeah of course," Luke said, kind of honored to be allowed to be the one to give Jess such happy news.

He glanced at his watch. It was about 10:00 pm, which was kind of late to be calling most people he knew on a weeknight, but it was actually a really good time to be calling Jess. Jess was sure to be up for at least a few more hours. Luke went into the kitchen to make the call.

"Hello?" Jess answered, a trace of surprise in is voice as he wondered who might be calling him at this fairly unusual hour. Jess didn't generally receive very many non-business related calls.

"Hey Jess!" Luke was so happy and Jess could tell Luke had good news to share. Jess wasn't sure what the good news would be though. There was a brief period of silence. After Luke realized Jess was waiting for him, Luke excitedly said, "it's a girl!"

"What?" Jess was confused. Who could possibly have had a baby that would make Luke this happy, and why would Luke think Jess would be interested in knowing about it? Luke mistook Jess's confusion for mere happy surprise.

"She's gorgeous Jess, you should come up here and meet her, your mother wants you to." Now Jess was even more confused.

"Why would Liz want me to meet this baby?" Luke was a bit taken aback by Jess's question.

"Jess, of course she wants you to meet your sister." There was no audible reaction on the line.

"Jess?"

Still just silence.

"Jess," Luke said slowly. "You knew your mother and TJ were having a baby, didn't you?" Luke was kind of afraid now to hear the answer.

Jess finally spoke. "Um... well... no."

"Oh gosh Jess, I had no idea I was springing this on you!" Luke silently cursed his sister, now understanding why she had wanted Luke to make this call, and why she sounded so guilty when asking Luke to do it.

Luke broke the silence. "I don't know why she wouldn't have told you," he said delicately.

Jess was in shock but it was slowly fading. "I think she wanted to tell me in person... she invited me to come up there about 8 months ago, in March, but I said I was too busy. And then again she thought Memorial Day weekend might be a nice time to catch up, but I didn't feel like driving all the way up there just for a 3-day weekend." Jess slowly continued, "Then when she invited me for Thanksgiving I turned her down again because I wanted to meet Matt's family." Jess sounded so defeated.

"You okay?" Luke was almost afraid to ask.

"Yeah, sure, I guess." Jess didn't sound too convincing.

Luke didn't want to overstep his boundaries. He knew how guarded Jess could be. But he really wanted to know. He quietly prodded, "Can you just tell me what you're thinking? Please?"

Jess didn't really know exactly how he felt about the news yet. "Um, I guess I'm thinking that... I hope Liz really has changed and that little girl has a better childhood than I did..."

Luke immediately reassured him. "She has Jess." Luke was so confident of this fact. "She really is like a new person now."

Jess knew it was selfish and wrong of him, but he was really upset by this idea. "I guess then I also am kinda jealous," he said sadly. "I mean, if she has the ability to be a good mother, then why," Jess asked Luke, "why couldn't she pull it together for me?"

The question should have been rhetorical, but the way Jess asked it made Luke feel obliged to answer. "I'm so sorry Jess," he said very sincerely. "I really don't know."

Jess smiled meekly, then realized he was on the phone and Luke wouldn't be able to see his reaction.

"Yeah I know, " Jess said. "And don't be sorry, it's not _your_ fault."

Luke kind of felt it was partially his fault. He could have done more when Jess was little, he could have done _something_. But this wasn't about Luke's guilt at what he didn't do. This was about Jess's feelings in the here and now.

"Well," Luke started a bit timidly, "I'm not saying you need to forgive your mother. I'm not even saying she deserves to be forgiven. But I do think it'd be good for you to meet your sister. Be part of her life. You might regret it if you don't."

Jess considered for a moment. "Technically, she's only my half-sister, but yeah, sure, I guess it'd be nice to meet her. I could drive up this weekend... maybe stay with you?" Jess finished awkwardly, because he didn't like inviting himself over.

"Of course," Luke said, very relieved and happy. "You are always welcome to stay with me, whenever you want." He paused, wondering whether it'd be too much to admit this, but decided that since Jess had been so open about his feelings a minute ago, Luke figured he might as well do the same. "You know it is pretty lonely around here these days, when April isn't here at least. And I really do like having you around, believe it or not."

They hung up.

Jess was about to come back to Stars Hollow for the first time in two-and-a-half years.


	3. Luke's Headache

As Jess drove into Stars Hollow in his new (used) car, he realized just how much he'd changed since he was last here. He felt so much more... mature. He finally knew where he was going in his life. He was a published writer; he had actually accomplished something, and it felt so good. And it wasn't over yet either, in fact it was just beginning. He still had a steady job and more writing that he knew would inevitably get published in the future. Jess was twenty-one years old, and all-in-all he was finally optimistic about his life ahead. He never would have imagined this day would come, but he was genuinely happy.

He still loved Rory of course. He knew he probably always would, but he wasn't all heartbroken over her. He couldn't let her ruin his good life and his happiness that had taken so long to come. He was entering Stars Hollow and so many memories of Rory, both good and bad, entered his mind. But he observed them in as detached a way as he could. Avoiding his mother's wedding (until Luke showed up in New York begging him to come) because of Rory – that was his old, immature, unhappy self. Now he wouldn't let the idea of Rory possibly being in town affect his decision to come and meet his new half sister. He wouldn't. And he wasn't actually afraid of seeing Rory this time, he hadn't done anything wrong at their last encounter, if anything it should be Rory who was afraid to see him this time. He was determined to be fine no matter what happened, regardless of if Rory was in town while he was here visiting Luke and the new addition to his family. Besides he already was bracing himself for seeing Liz – it wouldn't be too hard to be similarly braced if he randomly ran into Rory too.

He parked on the curb across the street from the diner, the same curb where he'd slept in his car until Luke had saved him from freezing to death almost 3 years earlier. He smiled at the memory, at how Luke had claimed not to care but so obviously did. Jess was so grateful to have Luke in his life. No one else had really cared about him three years ago. Before that, he'd had Rory briefly. She truly cared about him, he knew she did. He thought about the phone call when he didn't say a word but she had said a lot. She said she'd loved him but she wasn't going to pine. She said he could have told her about not graduating and about his dad. She'd also said goodbye. But the words he was specifically remembering now were, "I hope you're good. I want you to be good." It had been so sweet of her to say, especially considering the circumstance and how he'd basically just broken her heart. However, that was 3 and a half years ago. That was the end of him feeling like she was a person that cared about him.

Now he was friends with Matt and Chris. And it was nice to have friends... so nice. He had been in denial about just how lonely he was before finding friends. He'd had some friends growing up in New York but ever since leaving there he had been quite lonely... until he met Matt and Chris. Still, Luke was different. Jess could imagine losing touch with Matt and Chris at some point in the future, but Luke was family, and would always be in his life. And Luke cared about him in an unconditional way, which wasn't something Jess could say about anyone else in his life. Luke would always be there for him. No matter what.

Jess walked into the empty dark diner, the bell ringing above his head. It was late Friday night and the diner had been closed for about an hour, but Luke had left the door unlocked for him. He walked through the curtain and up to the apartment, then knocked. No answer. Maybe Luke didn't hear him? Jess knocked again, a little louder. Still nothing. _He's probably in the bathroom or something,_ Jess thought. He knew Luke was home, his truck was parked outside and some light from inside the apartment was leaking through the crack between the bottom of the door and the floor – and besides Luke was expecting him. Jess felt silly waiting, so he started slowly to turn the handle to the unlocked door.

"Luke?" Jess called. "Where are you? Didn't you hear me knocking?" He stepped halfway through the door. "Can I come in at least? You know it's kinda rude to leave me waiting outside," he joked. Jess glanced around, then noticed Luke lying on top of his bed with his clothes on. His hands were gripped _very_ tightly around a black baseball cap (Jess wondered where the blue one had gone) and Luke appeared to be covering his eyes with this hat. Jess started to slowly approach him.

"Jess... I'm sorry I didn't answer the door," Luke said slowly in a very soft voice, as if it was hard for him to speak.

"It's okay." Jess dismissed the apology quickly. Then he continued, "I mean... Luke? What's wrong?" Jess wasn't sure what to do, but he was very concerned about his uncle, he had never seen him like this before.

"I... I have a really bad headache," Luke answered through his shaky breath. "I was fine one second and then suddenly I got the worst headache of my life." Luke sounded a little scared. "Oh and the lights are really painful so can you help me out and turn them off please?"

Jess immediately went to turn off the light leaving the room pitch black. So Jess stumbled over to the bathroom and turned on the light, just so that he could sort of see around the apartment.

"Luke?" Jess asked nervously.

"Yeah?" Luke responded still in his semi-shaky and quiet voice.

"Do you want me to take you to the hospital?"

"Oh, um..." Luke considered for a moment. "Yeah, you probably should. I'm not sure what's wrong with me but... it can't hurt, right?" Luke half-smiled for Jess's benefit, but in reality he was really upset by this idea. He hated hospitals, and had just recently been at one because of April. Also he was terrified as to why he was suddenly experiencing so much pain.

Jess nodded, forgetting that Luke had his eyes screwed shut and couldn't see him. He considered what it looked like Luke was capable of doing at the moment, and decided that instead of trying to take Luke down the stairs, he probably should just call 911.

"Luke, I'm sorry but I think the best thing to do right now is to call for an ambulance to take you there. I'm not so sure you look like you can really walk down the stairs right now." Jess started to quickly walk over to the phone, without even waiting for a response from Luke.

Luke didn't respond, he just listened as Jess picked up the phone, dialed, and then explained the situation. He was grateful that Jess was doing all of this for him, grateful that he wasn't alone tonight like he usually was. He felt very lucky that Jess happened to be here for this. But he also felt so ashamed to be so helpless at the moment that Jess didn't even think he could walk down the stairs to the diner – Jess's assessment of Luke's capabilities at the moment were correct, but it was still embarrassing.

The paramedics arrived faster than Jess would have thought possible, and everything happened so quickly. Luke was helped onto a stretcher and carried down the stairs, out the door, and into the ambulance, and Jess was allowed to climb in after him if he wanted to, as the paramedic put it, "hold his uncle's hand". _Hold his hand?_ Jess was suddenly acutely aware of his intimacy issues. He stared at Luke's hands, which were no longer holding his baseball cap to his eyes. Jess swallowed and decided Luke didn't need his hand held, he wasn't dying or anything, it was just a really bad headache. He just sat there next to Luke; Luke knew he was there, and Jess hoped that his presence alone would be comfort enough.

When they got to the hospital, the doctor who was now in charge of Luke's care instructed Jess to sit in the waiting room. Jess was supposed to fill out some paperwork while they ran some tests on his uncle. He stared at the form. He didn't know anything about Luke's insurance. He didn't think Luke had any allergies but he wasn't sure. Jess didn't think Luke had any health problems at all, but maybe he just didn't know about them. Jess suddenly wished he'd had more real conversations with his uncle, so that he'd know these things. Family history... he knew Liz had mentioned that her mom had died suddenly when she was about 8... Jess was fairly sure it was a car crash. He also knew Luke and Liz's dad had been sick and died right after he was born. Jess had been told that his grandfather had been there when Jess was born, but had died only a few days later. But "sick" was so vague... could Luke be sick from the same thing that his father had died of? Cancer? Some rare genetic disease? What causes horrible headaches and is deadly? Jess didn't know enough about all the possible diseases out there, but he certainly hoped that what Luke's father had died of had nothing to do with what was happening to Luke now. But Jess couldn't shake the feeling that maybe it was the same thing.

Jess decided it might be important to know what it was that killed Luke's father. Maybe it could help the doctors treat Luke better. He didn't want to scare Luke by asking him and reminding him of the possible connection. Plus he was supposed to be leaving Luke alone with his doctors while they ran some tests. Jess decided to call Lorelai. maybe she would know. He wasn't ready to deal with talking to his mother yet. _Besides,_ Jess justified, _Luke would definitely want Lorelai down here._ He dialed the Gilmore home phone, which he still knew by heart, from when he'd dated Rory.

Christopher answered. "Hello?"

Jess was slightly taken aback by the male voice answering until he remembered that Lorelai was recently married to Rory's dad.

"Hi, is Lorelai there?"

"Yeah." Christopher handed the phone over to his wife. Jess could hear him say, "Lor, it's for you."

"Hello?" Lorelai said.

Jess replied, "Good, Lorelai. Um... do you by any chance know what Luke's father died of?"

"What? Why? Who is this?" Lorelai was very surprised by the question, to say the least.

Jess explained, "Sorry. I'm in the hospital now, trying to fill out this form for Luke, and I don't know the answers to anything. I thought you might be able to help. Oh and it's Jess by the way. Sorry again."

Lorelai's mind was moving a mile a minute. "Oh my God, wow, well is Luke okay? What happened? Oh and Luke's dad... I think he had cancer. I really don't know though. I think he was always extra sensitive about the topic of cancer though so I just assumed... Jess, what hospital are you at?"

Jess said, "Thanks Lorelai. Um, I'm at St. Joseph's. He's... he... I'm not sure exactly what happened, all I know is that he was experiencing the worst headache of his life and he didn't object to me calling an ambulance." He swallowed. "They're doing lots of tests on him now. I'm sure he'd love to see you when they finish with the testing though."

"Okay Christopher and I will be down – oh Jess, you do know I'm married to Christopher now, right?"

"Yeah..." he said. "Luke told me." There was an awkward pause. Jess decided to break the silence with "Congratulations," but immediately regretted it. Now the tension over the phone was so palpable, and with each passing second it increased.

But Lorelai pretended it wasn't awkward and sincerely said, "Thanks, Jess. You hang in there, we'll be there soon." Lorelai hung up the phone and looked at Chris. Chris was already getting out of his pajamas and into real clothes.

"We're going to the hospital, for Luke, right?" Chris said. He didn't sound jealous, annoyed, or angry. He sounded... understanding, to Lorelai's surprise. Chris knew, even when Lorelai was engaged to Luke or Max, if Chris had been in the hospital Lorelai would have come. He knew Lorelai still cared deeply about Luke, and Chris was trying to accept that and was refusing to let himself be jealous. _She had just broken up with him, and immediately came to me_ , he thought. _She married me. I have nothing to worry about._ He smiled at Lorelai reassuringly, and Lorelai smiled back gratefully. She too threw on some street clothes and then they grabbed their coats and went to the hospital. They drove in silence, Chris at the steering wheel, Lorelai in the passenger's seat. When they got to the hospital, Chris watched Lorelai as she glanced around the emergency room waiting area, looking for Jess. There were about ten people in the waiting room total, so picking Jess out was easy. They were approaching him from behind, so he didn't notice them. Jess was on the phone, and Lorelai and Christoper could overhear his conversation.

"Mom, this isn't the time. Please just come down here for Luke. Leave the baby with your husband, I don't want to meet her like this," and after a short pause, he continued, "I just don't. It's not important right now." Lorelai could hear Liz's voice respond but couldn't make out the words. "I really don't want to hear it now, Mom... please stop. Fine. I know you're sorry. I can't. I can't. No. Please can we do this later? I know, I know. Thank you!" He finally hung up with a huge sigh of relief.

Lorelai inched into his view. "Hey, Jess."

Jess was suddenly embarrassed. "How much of that did you hear?"

"A fair amount," Chris honestly confessed.

Lorelai smiled apologetically. "Sorry."

Jess shook his head. "Don't worry about it. So... um..." Jess trailed off, desperate for a conversation to start, hoping it would take his mind off Luke, but nothing was coming to him.

Lorelai logically asked, "So what happened exactly?"

Jess signed, knowing the question was coming. "Well, I was coming up here to meet my new half-sister," he said. "Luke said I could stay with him and was expecting me to arrive tonight. I walked into the unlocked diner, knocked on his apartment door, and when he didn't answer I just let myself in. And there he was, in a lot of pain on his bed, trying to cover up his eyes and block out the light. He asked me to turn off the lights, and I did, and then I called 911. And now they've been doing tests for about an hour." Jess said all of this very matter-of-factly, just relaying the information, determined not to show Lorelai any of his emotions regarding the situation.

Lorelai listened intently and took it all in. "Okay. Well I guess we'll just have to wait now." She was so worried about Luke, but didn't want to show it in front of Christopher. She also felt like she owed it to Jess to be the adult in this situation too, since Jess was just Rory's age and still a child in her opinion, even if he was twenty-one. Lorelai sat down in the empty seat next to Jess and motioned for Chris to sit next to her.

They waited in silence for what felt like an eternity but in reality was only about ten minutes. Christopher looked intently at Jess... why did that name sound so familiar? Chris had never met the kid, why did he feel like he should know him? Chris looked back to Lorelai, trying to read her. Chris couldn't tell what she was thinking.

But then Luke's doctor finally emerged. The three of them stood up to meet him, and the doctor looked at them with a frighteningly somber face. Jess begged him to please hurry up and just tell them what was wrong with Luke. The doctor nodded.

"I'm sorry to inform you that Luke has a cerebral aneurysm."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So... I hope you guys aren't too disappointed by the direction I took the story, and I hope I didn't get too many of my facts too horribly wrong, I did a little bit of research to try to make it as realistic as possible but... lol... it's still quite possible my story is pretty unrealistic which is a main reason I was so hesitant to post this lol. Truly, I almost didn't post this at all. There were a lot of reasons but I had never originally intended for the story to go in this direction. I was also afraid it was over-dramatic or melodramatic or cliché or something lol. But I really did try my best to make it as realistic as possible though and to get my facts accurate.
> 
> Yeah so I hope you guys enjoyed it, and continue to in the coming chapters. I know this chapter, above, was almost twice as long as each of my previous two chapters lol - I'm not sure if that is a good or a bad thing lol! Feel free to be honest in your reviews about what you didn't like though, of course. ;)


	4. Unspoken But Understood

"I'm sorry to inform you that Luke has a cerebral aneurysm."

Jess knew very little about aneurysms, but knew just enough to know that they were very serious. He waited for the doctor to continue.

"It appears to have ruptured. Unfortunately most aneurysms aren't caught until after they rupture."

Lorelai stood there very still and unusually quiet, unable to do anything except try to listen intently despite her internal panicking.

"Luke is being prepped for surgery now. The standard of care in the case of aneurysms like this is an emergency surgical clipping procedure."

Chris glanced from Lorelai to Jess, and then turned back to the doctor. He looked for his nametag before asking his question. "Dr. Evans, could you please explain what... what exactly that surgery is?"

The doctor nodded. "It's brain surgery... I know it sounds scary but it's the most effective way to treat him. We will go in and essentially clip off the base of the bleeding vessel. They're probably almost done prepping him now, if you guys want to talk to him before he goes under anesthesia, now's your chance. I'm so sorry to rush you, but this is a really time-sensitive problem, the longer we wait before he goes into the surgery, the more of a chance he... well... the more of a chance he won't make it. I'm so sorry you guys." Dr. Evans looked over them somberly. It was clear that both Lorelai and Jess cared a lot about this man, and that Christopher seemed to be acting like he'd never even met Luke.

Chris put his arm gently around Lorelai's shoulders, which appeared (to Jess's horror) to be her cue to burst into tears.

"Shh, Lor, it's okay. He'll be okay," Christopher soothed her softly, as she turned towards him, burying her face in his chest. "They're doing everything they can for him right now."

Jess's eyes widened. He'd never seen Lorelai like this before. It was pretty terrifying. He thought briefly to himself that Rory's dad seemed like a more sensitive guy than Jimmy was. Then he snapped out of his internal tangent and remembered Luke, and realized that he basically felt just like the hysterical Lorelai. However, all of Jess's hysteria was being consciously suppressed at the moment. He took a deep breath and then swallowed, as if physically doing these things would help to keep the emotions inside.

Jess hesitantly started to walk over to Luke's room. The door was only open a crack, and as Jess looked through the little window he saw that Luke's head was in the process of being shaved, but the nurse motioned him in with a gentle smile.

"Hey there, Luke," Jess said in a very quiet and shaky voice. He had intended to sound cool and collected. He hoped maybe he did.

"Jess." Luke opened his eyes briefly just to see Jess, and then closed them again.

Jess reached his uncle's bedside and decided now _was_ the right time to hold Luke's hand. Well. Maybe just touch his arm. Yeah, that was a little manlier, but still an intimate enough gesture. As the nurse walked away, having finished taking care of Luke's hair, Jess gently placed his fingers on Luke's forearm.

Luke smiled slightly at the touch. "So Jess, tell me, how's my hair?"

The joke made Jess tear up, and his voice was caught in his throat. He couldn't answer. He just stood there, terrified that his uncle might die at any moment. He wanted to answer his joking question. Even more than that, he wanted to say something meaningful and important. What were the last words he should say to Luke? For some inexplicable reason his mind was blank. Jess, the writer, was lost for words.

Luke noticed the silence. Luke took the silence appropriately – he realized Jess was unable to speak because he... because he was so worried about him and because Jess cared so much. Because Luke realized they shared some unspoken but understood feelings of... feelings of love. Luke was so happy and grateful and touched that Jess cared so much about him that he couldn't speak in this moment. But it also saddened him beyond what he'd ever thought possible. Luke was in a weakened state, and still was in a ton of pain. Combined with these overwhelming conflicting emotions, he started to silently cry, tears streaming from both of his closed eyes, dampening his pillow.

Jess heard the door creak a little and glanced over. Lorelai was standing there, silently waiting to come in the room.

Jess whispered, "You'll be okay, Luke, hang in there."

Then Jess slowly picked his hand up off of Luke's arm, holding his breath, and then quickly left the room. He didn't want Lorelai to see him start to cry. The moment he was out though, he finally was able to breathe, and some tears escaped. He leaned up against the wall of the hospital, taking some deep breaths, forcing himself to stop crying in public.

Then Jess headed back over towards the waiting room. Christopher was just starting a call. Jess stopped in his tracks. _Christopher is probably calling Rory. Oh no._ Jess wasn't sure he could handle seeing Rory tonight. Unfortunately, Jess's assumption was correct.

"Hey, Rory, it's your dad. Your mom asked me to call you. She said you'd want to know. Um, I'm not sure how to tell you this. It's about Luke. Yeah Luke. He's... he's not good Rory. He has an aneurysm and is about to go into brain surgery. I know honey. Yeah I've never seen your mother so upset. Are you... are you crying? Rory, please don't cry. Yeah we're at St. Joseph's. We'll call you if we leave. What? Oh. Luke's nephew called us. You know him? Oh that's right. Now I remember you mentioning him. Okay I will. I love you, see you soon." Christopher hung up and Jess walked back over to his seat, pretending not to have eavesdropped on the whole thing. Christopher and Jess just sat there in silence, not looking at each other, but rather each staring at their own shoes.

Meanwhile Lorelai was in Luke's room. She took Luke's hand in both of hers. Then she immediately burst out with, "I'm so sorry Luke. I am so sorry I broke up with you. I am so sorry I slept with Christopher that night. That wasn't fair to you. I never even apologized. Luke... I'm so sorry."

Luke forced himself to open his eyes, and he saw the tear-stricken face of the woman he loved. "Lorelai... it's okay. I forgive you."

Lorelai had uncontrollable streams of tears running down her face. "Thank you for always loving me... even now."

Luke smiled.

The doctor knocked on the door and then opened it and stuck his head in saying; "It's about time to take him into surgery now. I'm sorry to rush you, but..."

Lorelai leaned over and kissed Luke's head, and Luke felt a surge of warmth over his whole body. She started to walk away, but then turned around back towards Luke and said, "See you when you get out of surgery." She gave him a reassuring smile and her eyes shone brightly with tears. She seemed to be trying to convince both him and herself that his surgery would go smoothly and that everything would be perfectly fine.

Lorelai left the room and watched the doctors go in and immediately wheel him out and put a mask on his face in record time. She just stood there watching as he disappeared behind the doors where surgeries happened. He'd been out of sight for a few minutes and she just kept standing there, staring, until Liz tapped her on the shoulder.

"Lorelai! Hey! Did you see Luke?" Liz stepped into Lorelai's line of sight.

"Oh. Hi Liz," Lorelai said, barely able to greet her. She was so tired, and comprehending Liz's question took her more time than it should, and then she had to muster up some strength to answer it. "I did, he just was wheeled into surgery. You just missed him, I'm sorry."

"Surgery? What for? Is he okay? What happened? Jess didn't really tell me anything." Liz was starting to get closer to the appropriate amount of worry.

Lorelai looked at Liz and then started to cry again, she couldn't help it. Liz reached out and hugged her, quietly saying, "Well you said he was going into surgery now, so I at least know he's not dead yet." Then she added, in a half reassuring but half concerned tone, "Right?" Lorelai squeezed her tighter.

She spoke into Liz's hair. "Yeah he has a cerebral aneurysm so they're doing brain surgery now. He might die, we just have to wait and hope for the best."

Liz let go of Lorelai slowly. "Gosh," Liz replied. They stood there staring at each other for a few moments, as Lorelai watched the new information sink in. Liz's then blinked and looked back up at Lorelai. "So where's my Jessie boy?" she asked, trying to sound more like her usual chipper self.

Lorelai silently took her over to the waiting room. Liz went up to Jess and kissed his head. He sat still, waiting for her to sit down next to him. Once she did, Jess asked, "So Lorelai filled you in?" Again he used his matter-of-fact tone that concealed all emotion.

"Yeah," she said. "So I guess now we just wait?" Liz asked. No one answered her. The answer was obvious.

The four of them sat in silence for a long time. Lorelai leaned on Chris and they both fell asleep. Liz kept fidgeting. Jess just sat remarkably still, staring at his shoes, trying to think about something other than Luke. His mind flashed to Rory. She was coming. He was going to have to see her. He tried to focus on another subject. The book he was in the process of writing? Sure, maybe that would be a good distraction. He tried to mentally map out the next chapter. But all he could think of now were mothers dying in car crashes, fathers dying of cancer, and uncles dying of aneurysms. Jess tried to let his mind go blank. He continued to stare at his shoes for the next half hour.


	5. Luke Wakes Up

A while later, Luke was out of surgery. The doctor explained to Liz, Jess, Lorelai, Christopher, and Rory (who had finally arrived) that Luke was okay. He had survived the surgery, and they had successfully clipped off the aneurysm. It did burst, which meant there had been some bleeding in his brain before, but the surgeon had been able to stop it, so he would probably have some stroke-like symptoms for a while after the surgery. These might include dizziness, confusion, sensitivity to light, temporary memory problems, and vision or speech impairment. Also because he had brain surgery, a headache for a while was likely. Right now he was sleeping, but he would wake up in the Intensive Care Unit soon, as the anesthesia wore off. They said because his surgery was complication-free, he would only need to stay in the ICU for 1 day, just to be safe, and then in the regular recovery ward of the hospital for only four to six days.

The waiting had been boring and not much had happened. Rory and Jess avoided eye contact, Lorelai, Christopher, and Liz mainly drifted in and out of sleep and they waited. Now that Luke was okay, everyone was very relieved. Now there was more waiting though, as they all had to wait for Luke to wake up. They all slowly followed the doctor to the ICU and then were led to Luke's curtain area.

Liz hadn't gotten a chance to see Luke before surgery so she was particularly curious and desperate to see him right now, and she went up to his sleeping body and sat down in the chair next to his cot.

"Can I... is it alright if I touch him?" Liz asked the doctor. She seemed more confident than most people would be in this situation, but still more hesitant than her usual self was. He nodded at her and she then proceeded to put both of her hands on his right forearm. She noticed his tattoo on his bicep up by the sleeve of the hospital gown, and lifted one of her hands off of his forearm and used it to start fingering the tattoo, tracing the outline of it.

"We both never had siblings," Rory said, nudging her mother. "Dad and Jess never really did either. None of us can really relate to what Liz and Luke have, can we?" Lorelai looked over to Rory, softly smiling.

"You're right, kid. They're the only real siblings among us. You and Jess, though..." Lorelai hesitated, feeling bad now that she realized she was bringing up Jess, who sort of seemed to be a taboo subject around Rory. Then Lorelai continued, deciding it'd be even more awkward for Rory if she didn't finish her thought. "You both have half sisters now. Jess was actually only here in Stars Hollow tonight because he was going to go meet Doula for the first time."

"Oh, really?" Rory's eyes widened slightly and she glanced over at Jess. He was staring at his mother, and it appeared he was trying to figure out exactly what she was thinking. Now that Luke was okay, sort of at least, Rory decided she was brave enough to start up a conversation with him. Besides, her mother had just given her the perfect conversation starter.

She headed over towards Jess. He never turned his head, but he knew she was coming, and he braced himself slightly.

"Hey," Rory said to him sweetly albeit quietly since they were in an ICU full of sleeping patients.

"Hey," Jess replied.

"So congratulations on becoming a big brother now," Rory inched in front of him. She was hoping he might actually look at her now when he replied. "For the record, I bet you'll love Doula, and she'll love you. I haven't met her yet, but I've heard only good things." Jess sighed.

"Well she is a newborn infant, what else are they going to say?" Jess replied in a very sarcastic manner, as expected. "And did you say her name is 'Doula'? As in the word for someone who holds a woman's hand during labor? Like a midwife? What the f- sorry. Luke never mentioned her name, this is the first I'm hearing of it." Rory suppressed a laugh.

"Well, remember my half-sister's name is Gigi, short for Georgia. I'm not sure which is worse, her real name or her nickname! Neither are what I'd name my daughter. I don't know, Doula doesn't seem like that bad of a name."

Rory glanced at Jess. He smiled back at her, bantering about their half-siblings was remarkably easy for him, and he was relieved they weren't touching on any serious, difficult topics, like their ridiculous romantic history, or Luke, or anything like that.

"Well, you'd probably name your daughter Lorelai too, right? Keep the tradition?" He eyed her playfully, but truly was curious about the answer to the question.

"Hmm," Rory pondered. "I don't know, I love having the same name as my mom, but I kind of think it'd be okay to break the tradition." She looked up at him. "Besides, I'd probably end up having a boy anyway."

Jess smiled at her, and couldn't stop himself from imagining the two of them married and happy with a baby boy in their future. But then reality came back into focus, and he remembered that Rory was _in love with_ that blonde dick at Yale, and Luke was in a hospital bed in front of him, waking up. Waking up? What? Liz was motioning for a nurse, and the nurse came over and smiled reassuringly at everyone.

Luke opened his eyes and everything was blurry. His head did still hurt, but it was not the same kind of pain as before he went into surgery. He blinked repeatedly a few times, and saw Liz, and smiled at her. Everyone except Christopher was overcome with emotion. The three women all started crying silently, tears streaming uncontrollably down their faces. Lorelai approached the other side of Luke's bed. Everyone was just silently smiling and staring. Rory didn't want to leave Jess's side, but she looked up at her father, and he understood her silent plea and came over to her, and hugged her. Christopher was glad to be able to do something. He didn't know Luke and everyone else loved him so much, and poor Chris he felt really awkward and out of place. He also couldn't help but feel like maybe Lorelai was still in love with him. But at least Rory wanted to be hugged by her father. He squeezed her tightly. Her tears made his chest wet though his shirt, and he was glad to be there to catch them.

"He's okay, kiddo. Everything's gonna be okay," Chris whispered into her hair.

Rory tried to nod but was being held too tightly to really move. "I know, Dad. I know."

Jess turned to look at them, happy for a distraction away from his emotions about Luke. He was of course a bit jealous of Rory's relationship with her father. He also felt sort of satisfied to have finally seen Christopher, see what he was like, and see what he was like with Rory too. That was one piece of her life that he had missed out on and had always been curious about, and now Christopher was no longer really a mystery to him. He had witnessed him interacting with both Lorelai and Rory, and even had spoken to him briefly. 'Meeting Christopher' could now be marked off of Jess's checklist of things he'd hoped to do eventually.

The doctor came over, and forced Lorelai to step out of the way. He greeted Luke, telling him everything that had happened, and informing him that he was now recovering in the hospital.

"Now I just need to ask you a few questions. Do you know your name?"

"Uh, yeah," Luke struggled to say with his currently raspy and dry voice. "Luke. Luke Danes."

"Good," said the doctor. "Here," he said, reaching for a cup of ice chips on the little table next to Luke's head, then handing them to him. "You're probably thirsty." Luke nodded and took a small sip from the cup. The doctor waited for him to finish swallowing, then asked, "Now do you know who this is?" He motioned towards Liz.

Luke looked at his sister and nodded again. "My sister Liz."

"And how about this woman?" The doctor indicated Lorelai.

Luke hesitated. "I'm... I'm not sure. I'm sorry." Lorelai tried to hide her horror at him completely forgetting who she was, while the doctor shook his head dismissively.

"No need to be sorry, your memory will return, it's completely normal to have some memory problems at this stage." The doctor turned towards Jess. "Come over here, son." He turned back towards Luke. "Do you remember this boy? He's your nephew, if that helps."

Jess couldn't bear the idea of Luke not remembering him... but he braced himself. _If Luke doesn't remember Lorelai, he's not likely to remember me,_ Jess reasoned.

Luke shook his head, again apologizing. "I'm sorry but I don't remember him. The only nephew I remember is a baby, his name's Jess."

The doctor smiled at Luke, "Good, thanks for letting us know that, it gives us a clue as to how much of your memory you've lost. Luke, try not to freak out, but your baby nephew Jess? That's this young man you see standing in front of you now." The doctor put his hands on Jess's shoulders, which caused Jess to tense up – Jess hoped it wasn't noticeable. The doctor continued, "you appear to have lost 20 or so years of your memory, give or take, and we'll have to work to get that back. Don't worry, most people in your situation usually remember everything eventually."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So Luke didn't die. My checking the "Major Character Death" warning box for this fic was definitely about Luke, no one else comes near death in this fic, but in the end he doesn't actually die. I just thought I should warn you that this is not a lighthearted Gilmore Girls fic - this is more serious than what the show usually does.
> 
> In my fic here, he *did* suffer a serious stroke and he doesn't necessarily fully recover by the end of the fic. Keep reading to see what exactly happens. I did try to give the fic a pretty much happy ending, but that doesn't mean every miracle possible comes true.


	6. Finally Meeting Doula

The doctor told everyone to go home and get some rest. They had to test Luke's motor skills and determine if he had any speech or vision impairment, and then Luke would need to rest some more himself too. Jess had arrived via ambulance, so he _very_ reluctantly asked his mother for a ride. When Liz insisted that she stay with him tonight, Jess figured it was an okay idea, since he didn't really want to stay in Luke's empty apartment... it would feel wrong being there without him. So Jess didn't object, and got into the passenger's seat of Liz's car.

"I'm so excited for you to meet Doula!" Liz's enthusiasm showed in her voice. She seemed to have forgotten about Luke completely. "TJ is excited for you to meet her too, he's so proud of her and loves showing her off to everyone. He's so cute as a father, you will see soon enough. Are you excited to meet her?"

"Sure," he replied. Liz was driving, but she still glanced over at Jess, hoping for a visible reaction from him. She didn't really get much. Jess was trying his best to avoid reacting to anything at all tonight, it seemed.

They drove the rest of the way back to Liz's house in silence. Liz had considered turning on the radio, but then she thought against it, knowing full well that Jess had never enjoyed her taste in music. It wasn't that long of a ride.

"So, we're here! I don't think you've ever seen the house, you haven't been here since my wedding, have you?" Liz asked him as she unbuckled her seatbelt.

Jess glanced up at the house; it was morning, so there was plenty of sunlight to see it clearly. It was so boring, and normal... a regular house. He was surprised his mother and her ridiculous husband lived in a place that was as normal as this.

"No, I've never been here." Of course he hadn't returned to Stars Hollow, he was busy writing a book, getting published, etc. Plus, there was the whole Rory issue. After she'd yelled 'no', he had possessed no desire to return to the site of all of their memories. And after she'd broken his heart again at the open house... um... no. He hadn't seen any real reason to return here.

They got out of the car and Liz led Jess into the house. TJ must have still been sleeping cause the house was dead silent. Liz told Jess they had a guest bedroom, and informed him that he could sleep there if he wanted. Jess nodded, and followed her into it.

"Oh no!" Liz exclaimed. "You don't have anything to sleep in, do you? All your stuff is at Luke's. Do you want me to look through TJ's things? I could see if he has anything you could wear."

"Oh." Jess tried to think up a good response. He was thinking, _God no, I'm not wearing that idiot's clothing. The guy who loved to wear tights. I'm not sleeping in his clothing._ He said, "Um, thanks for the offer, but I'm really fine just sleeping in what I'm wearing. Don't worry about it. Seriously."

"Okay if you insist, sweetie. Goodnight... well... morning. You know what I mean. Sweet dreams." Liz went up to him and kissed his head, then left the room, quietly closing the door behind her.

 _'Sweet dreams'?_ _Really?_ Jess could not _believe_ his mother. He was living through what was essentially his worst nightmare. Luke almost died and at the moment didn't even remember him at all, and he might have other problems too that the doctors were testing him for at this very moment. She was acting like it was her dream come true, her son visiting her, sleeping in her house, about to meet her new baby, the one who would have the perfect life and childhood in this storybook town. Jess could hardly believe she was the same mother who he had grown up with in New York. She had been such a mess, but now, Luke was right, she really did seem to have changed. Thinking about Luke made him really sad though, so he pushed that out of his mind and decided it really was time to try to get some sleep.

He sat on the edge of the bed, kicked off his shoes, threw his jacket onto the floor, and then slid under the covers. He fell asleep remarkably quickly.

Around noon, he woke up to the sound of Doula crying. He had only gotten a few hours of rest, but they definitely worked to give him a second wind. He sat up and listened. He heard TJ's voice, singing.

"Hush little Doula, don't say a word. Papa's gonna take-you-to-the-Rennaissance-Fair-someday."Jess couldn't stop himself from smirking at the man trying to condense all of those words into only six syllables. Jess was kind of nervous to leave the room... once he was out there, he would have to meet his half-sister. She was right there. His stomach made a noise. He was starving, he hadn't eaten since his dinner the previous evening. He decided he had to get up and eat. He'd see the baby while he was at it, probably be forced to hold her for a second, but it wouldn't be a big deal. She was just a baby. He shrugged off his trepidation, stood up, and left the room. TJ was sitting on the couch in the living room, rocking the still crying baby. He looked up when Jess entered the room.

"Jess! Hey! You want to hold Doula? She's a beauty! And I can't get her to stop crying, I'm afraid she'll wake your mother if she keeps going... she might stop crying if you hold her though!" TJ stood up and started to walk towards Jess.

"Uh... I guess. But don't babies usually cry more around strangers?" Jess was a bit hesitant, and he was distracted by his extreme hunger, and glanced towards the kitchen.

"She didn't cry when Luke first held her. Plus she's really smart for a baby. I think she will know you're not a stranger. You're family. Come here." TJ smiled at Jess and slowly placed Doula into his arms. She was still so tiny, and Jess was surprised by just how easily she fit into his arms. Sure enough she did stop crying, and she looked into his eyes intently. Jess smiled at her; she really was a pretty baby. Jess held her for a few minutes, both siblings pretty content. TJ smiled at them, muttering to himself about how adorable they were and how he was going to go get a camera and capture the moment, so that Liz wouldn't miss it. Jess mainly was tuning him out. TJ took photos of them from every possible angle, and Jess didn't even mind. He just let it all happen. But then his stomach grumbled again, and TJ heard it.

"Oh gosh, Jess you must be starving! When was the last time you ate? What do you want to eat? We've got some bread and lunch meat... would that be good?" TJ asked, not waiting for an answer. He already was getting the bread out of the cupboard.

"A sandwich sounds great, thanks." Jess nodded at TJ, and then slowly walked over to Doula's bassinet, which was out there in the living room. He gently placed Doula down, surprisingly a natural with this baby. She still didn't cry, even as he let go of her. She started to drift into sleep as Jess slowly headed over to the kitchen to join TJ.


	7. Lorelai and Rory Talk

Lorelai was sitting quietly on the edge on her bed, being careful not to disturb the currently sleeping Christopher. He was catching up on his sleep, but Lorelai, despite being exhausted, couldn't sleep. She was staring at her closet, where inside she knew she had the perfect wedding dress. She couldn't believe she got married to Christopher in Paris with no ceremony or dress or anything. But then again, she always pictured Luke at the end of the aisle anyway, Luke had loved her in that dress, she had been the one to propose to Luke. Lorelai wanted to marry Luke... and she realized now that she still wanted to marry him, even though she was currently married to someone else.

 _If only April hadn't come into the picture to mess everything up,_ she thought bitterly. She knew it wasn't April's fault, it was Luke's fault for keeping her a secret at first and then later for asking Lorelai to stay away and for not wanting her to be a part of that aspect of his life. And it was partially her fault too, she hated to admit (even if it was just to herself), because she should have told Luke how left out she was feeling earlier than she did. Why did she expect Luke to read her mind? It was unfair of her to expect so much of him.

All this thinking about how Luke's thirteen-year-old daughter caused them to break up made Lorelai realize – Luke wouldn't remember April at all. And then she realized April didn't know yet about Luke. Lorelai sighed. April needed to know. Lorelai quietly got out of bed, and went downstairs. She wanted to call Anna, and headed for the phone, but then realized she had no idea what Anna Nardini's phone number was. She knew where she worked though... she could drive there, and let April's mother know in person. She wasn't going to be sleeping anyway. She decided to do it, and grabbed her keys, and headed out the door. She closed the door behind her and was almost to the car when the door opened again behind her and Rory called out to her.

"Mom? Where are you going? Why aren't you sleeping?" Rory definitely looked like she'd just rolled out of bed. Her hair was a bit disheveled and she was wearing pajamas.

"I was gonna go drive to Anna Nardini's store. I think April needs to know about Luke, don't you?"

"Really?" Rory was a bit surprised. "Why don't you just call? Isn't it a kind of long drive?"

"Well I can't sleep anyway," Lorelai justified, "And I don't know her phone number."

"You could always look it up, I bet she's listed in the yellow pages. At least her store would be!" Rory hoped her mother would come back inside; she was getting really cold standing out there on the porch in early December. "I can search on my laptop for you if you don't remember where you put the phone book," Rory offered.

"Please honey," Lorelai said, "If you want to come with me you can, but I want to get out of the house and go for a drive. I need to clear my head," she continued. Sounding a bit more serious, she added, "Plus I really do think this is the kind of news that is sort of appropriate to give in person."

Rory nodded in understanding and said, "Okay fine, let me throw my clothes back on really quickly, I want to come with you. You can start getting the car warmed up though."

They drove through the town, watched life carrying on as usual, as if nothing had happened. No one actually knew what had happened yet. They stopped at the red light in front of Luke's diner, which was empty. Luke had closed it the previous evening and the sign still was not turned around to say "open" - no one had been there to open it nor to write an explanatory note for why it was closed. Lorelai realized Luke wouldn't even remember the fact that he'd turned his father's hardware store into a diner. So much of his life was missing from his memory. He actually might not even remember that his father died. _When exactly did that happen?_ Lorelai asked herself, trying to remember.

"So did it take having something as horrible as this happen to make you realize you never stopped being in love with Luke?" Rory flat out asked her, forcing Lorelai to confront her internal romantic conflict.

"What?" Lorelai was flabbergasted.

"Mom." Rory knew that Lorelai had heard her correctly.

"Seriously honey, that's-"

"What, crazy?" Rory interrupted her. "Or were you about to say 'that's true' in which case, yes, I agree." Lorelai stared at her daughter.

"Rory..." Lorelai didn't know where to begin. She changed lanes, concentrating on driving for a second. Then she went back to the conversation. "Did you really think that all this time, despite marrying your dad and everything, that I was always still in love with Luke?"

"Yes," Rory simply stated. "That's why I wasn't exactly thrilled to find out you married him. That's also why I yelled at you and stormed out after finding out you slept with dad and essentially sabotaged your relationship with Luke for no reason. It wasn't fair to Dad, it wasn't fair to Luke, and most importantly it wasn't fair to yourself!"

"Wow." Lorelai didn't know what to say. "Well, I guess... I don't know, what should I do now?" Rory sighed and looked away from her.

"I think the first step is telling Dad how you feel... even though I'm sure it'll break his heart."

"I'm sorry, sweetie," Lorelai said. "I never meant to break his heart. Am I breaking yours too? I know you always loved the idea of us together..."

"No mom, I mean... I guess a part of me is a little sad," Rory started to answer, still facing the window, "but I always loved the _idea_ of my parents being together, especially when I was little and Dad wasn't in my life that much." Rory turned back to look at her mother. "I didn't love the _reality_ of you two together though. I loved the reality of you and Luke. You were so happy. I miss you being that happy," Rory said, smiling at her mother. "Plus I love Luke, I have for almost my whole life," she said, now tearing up a bit and struggling to keep a steady voice. "Luke will get his memories back, and you two will live happily ever after, that's how it's supposed to be. That's the idea _and_ the reality that I love now."

Lorelai didn't know what to say, astounded by her daughter's insight and wisdom, and very touched by her words too. Just then they arrived at Anna Nardini's store though, and they had to get out of the Jeep.

They walked in, and waited by the counter as Anna finished helping a customer. When she noticed Lorelai, her face dropped. She came over to them.

"What do you want?" she asked, obviously annoyed at their very presence. "And who are you?" she said, looking at Rory.

"I'm Rory, her daughter," she said, gesturing towards her mother.

"It's about Luke," Lorelai said. "He had... he had a cerebral aneurysm. It burst and he had brain surgery last night." She took a deep breath and Anna's eyes widened. "Now he's being tested to see if he has any of the possible stroke effects or symptoms or whatever. Like motor control problems, or vision issues, or speech impairment." Lorelai swallowed, then continued, "but um... the really important thing to know is that he lost a lot of his memory. The last 20 years of his life, give or take. He doesn't remember me, he probably wouldn't remember you... and he certainly wouldn't remember April at all. The doctor said he probably will get his memory back eventually. But... well... anyway I just thought you should know. Really April. I thought she should know. Can you... can you find a way to tell her?"

Anna was certainly shocked. She took a moment to process all of it, then nodded and said, "Yeah, I'll have to find a way to tell April. That's... that's awful. Thanks for coming to tell me." She seemed sincerely appreciative.

Rory and Lorelai left the store, and Rory glanced back to see Anna slowly sit down in a chair that appeared to be on sale. She was staring off blankly into space.

"So when your dad wakes up," Lorelai started,

"you'll have to tell him that you never stopped loving Luke," Rory finished for her.

They nodded in agreement. It was a plan. Then they got in the car and started heading back to Stars Hollow.


	8. A Conversation On The Bridge

After Jess had finished eating his sandwich, TJ had then proceeded to show him every single picture in the huge photo album they had in the house. There were pictures of Liz and TJ before they got married, at the Renaissance fair, some wedding photos Jess had never seen before including two pictures with him in them, some pictures of TJ's relatives from the Christmas two years prior, a picture of Liz meeting April, and then a bunch of pictures of Doula. Jess considered how the girl was only a week old, and wondered how they managed to take so many pictures of her in such a short time. Once they'd seen every photo in the album, TJ seemed to be lost for what to do next to keep Jess entertained.

"Would you like to watch some TV?" TJ asked, gesturing towards the set.

Jess shook his head, saying, "I think I'll just go over to Luke's apartment and pick up my stuff, I'll probably be staying here for a few days, right?" Jess didn't want to watch television with TJ, and so as much as he also didn't want to face the nosy townspeople of Stars Hollow nor walk into Luke's empty apartment, he knew it had to be done eventually, so he got up and started heading towards the door. Besides, he wanted to read, and the book he'd brought with him on this trip was still in his bag in Luke's apartment. Opening the door, he looked back at TJ and said, "I'll be back soon, okay?" Without waiting for an answer he left.

* * *

Jess walked across town, and as he did, Lorelai and Rory drove by him in the Jeep on their way back home from Anna's store. Rory noticed him looking determinedly at the diner, which seemed to be where he was headed. He was avoiding all eye contact with everyone around him, which was probably why he didn't notice the Jeep. She wanted to be there for him as she imagined what he was feeling and thinking. She knew how much he cared about Luke. But she also knew that seeing her probably was more stressful for him than comforting, and so she was glad he didn't notice her.

Rory and Lorelai both decided to try to get a little bit of sleep now, while Chris was still sleeping anyway, because they were exhausted.

* * *

Jess walked into the still unlocked diner. He was glad it was closed because there were no people inside to stare at him. He went up to the apartment, since the door was still unlocked too, and grabbed his bag quickly without looking around much. He immediately started heading back towards his mother's house.

* * *

Jess got back to the house and sat on the couch and started reading. He heard his mother's and TJ's voices, but he tuned them out. He was currently finishing rereading all of Mark Twain's work, because the man was a genius and pretty much all of his work deserved to be read at least a few times. He was on _The Mysterious Stranger_ , the last novel the man had attempted (but hadn't quite finished before he died). Jess was reading the three original manuscripts, and he was eating up all of the man's interesting views on the hypocrisy of Christianity. Jess largely agreed with him. He didn't think this was Twain's best work, but it was unfinished so he cut him some slack. He wondered if he'd die while in the middle of writing a book. He hated the idea of someone publishing something he wasn't finished writing.

TJ and Liz came into the room and turned on the TV, as if Jess wasn't sitting right there, trying to read. He didn't want to act like a kid again and just leave without even saying a word to anyone, like he always used to do. He should be able to behave in a more adult manner now. So he got up and informed them as politely as he could that he was going to read outside, if they didn't mind.

"Sure honey, do whatever you want," Liz said.

Jess went over to the bridge, because he knew he could always get peace and quiet there. He sat down on it, opened the book of manuscripts to the page he had been on, and continued his reading.

* * *

 

Chris woke up and felt very well rested. It was afternoon now, and he went into the kitchen, and started boiling some water. The clanking of the pots woke up Rory, despite his efforts to be quiet – she was sleeping in her old room because Gigi was away in Paris right now, and that bedroom was attached to the kitchen, after all. She wandered out of her room.

"Oh I'm so sorry Ror, I was trying not to wake you," Chris apologized.

"It's okay Dad, don't worry about it," Rory said. "What are you making?"

"Pasta, would you some too? I was thinking elbow macaroni and we could grate some good cheddar cheese on top. It's delicious and easy to make," Chris said, smiling.

"Macaroni and cheese does sound good," Rory said. "We usually buy Kraft brand... or microwavable... or order it from Al's Pancake World," Rory giggled as her dad looked at her incredulously. "In all seriousness though," Rory said, "We've never just made it ourselves, that sounds really good though."

Chris made the late lunch/early dinner which Rory and Lorelai liked to call "linner", and Rory set the table for the two of them and got out the cheese to grate. She didn't realize they had a cheese grater in the house, but her dad pointed it out to her and said he had brought it with him when he moved in.

"It actually used to be Sherry's," Chris said.

"Speaking of Sherry, have you talked to Gigi lately? Is she enjoying spending time with her mother?" Rory asked, curiously.

"Um," Chris said, a little unsure, "I think she's enjoying it, but she's not the best at expressing herself over the phone, so I'm not really sure."

"Well I'm sure she's fine then, if she was really hating the whole experience I think she'd be able to express that," Rory said.

Rory and Christopher chatted more while they ate. Rory told him about her classes she'd signed up to take for the semester that would start in January, which was also her very last semester at Yale. She was very excited for all of her classes, probably even more so than usual. Chris told Rory he was really enjoying his new job in Hartford, and that he might be going out one night soon to play poker with a few of the guys there. He was happy to be potentially making some new friends. Rory explained how excited she was to be going to London for Christmas with Logan in a few weeks. Then Rory heard footsteps and knew Lorelai was awake. She finished her last few bites, and decided she wanted to leave her parents alone for the conversation they were about to have, so she told her dad she was going to go out and tell Lane what had happened last night.

She lingered in the hallway, spending extra time putting on her coat, waiting for Lorelai to come downstairs. When she did, Rory looked at her sympathetically but then gestured towards her father in the kitchen and whispered sternly, "You can't chicken out. This has to be done. I'm leaving you two alone now." Lorelai nodded.

Rory did want to tell Lane, not only about Luke but also about her parents' impending divorce. However, she decided to take the slower, scenic route to get to Lane and Zack's house. Her mind was drifting aimlessly so as she headed towards the bridge, she didn't even notice Jess until she was almost on top of him. She was much too close to him to turn and run away without him noticing. He was still staring at his book, but she guessed he was probably just pretending to still be reading at this point, in actuality having already noticed her. Sure enough, as she continued silently staring at him and standing perfectly still, rooted to the spot, he slowly turned his head and looked at her. For a moment they both just stared at each other, trying to read each other. Then Jess broke the silence.

"I feel like I'm on display at a museum or something, Rory," he said, smiling at her.

"Sorry, it's just that I didn't mean to interrupt you," Rory said frantically. "I just didn't notice you on the bridge until it was too late to turn around, and then I just didn't know what to do," she quickly added, now blushing profusely because she had said way more than she had ever intended.

Jess smiled at himself, amused. He was not only amused but also relieved to find her so nervous and avoiding him. It made him feel a lot more comfortable, somehow, to know that she wasn't acting like everything was totally fine between them. Rory was squirming as he just sat there, silently laughing at her and interpreting the situation.

"I'm sorry, okay!" she burst out. "I'm so, so sorry."

"About what?" he asked.

"About the kiss, of course! About hurting you like that." She felt so pathetic, essentially begging for his forgiveness when she knew she didn't deserve it. "And... well... about Luke as well," she said, gravely. Jess darted his eyes away.

"Luke's not your fault," he said quietly.

"I know," she said, "But I'm still so sorry. I know you lo-" she caught herself. "I know how much you care about him, and I do too, but still..." she trailed off.

"Yeah," Jess responded. "Well thanks I guess," Jess said, trying to be appreciative. "So... are you still dating... um... his name was Logan, right?" Rory nodded. He tried not to look disappointed.

"Actually, I'm going to meet him in London for the winter break," Rory added, trying not to sound too happy about it, for Jess's sake. "I have been to Europe twice before, but..." she stopped herself, realizing it might hurt Jess more than was necessary to continue. She had wanted to say that the last two times she was kind of distracted, one could even say miserable (the first time being Jess's fault), and this time should be more pleasant, considering she was going with someone she loved, and she was on good terms with her mother, and everything was right with the world for once in her life. But that would have been beyond insensitive to say to Jess, even if she had reworded it.

Plus everything wasn't right with the world right now, who was she kidding? Luke was still in the hospital with no memory of pretty much everyone who loved him, and her parents were probably yelling and screaming, or crying or something right now at this very moment. And then there was Jess, and he was making her feel so many things at once, and she wasn't even sure if she could place all of these feelings. She felt so guilty around him now, because she knew she had broken his heart multiple times. But she still felt heartbroken around him too, because she still wasn't over the first time he'd left her, and not even said goodbye. At the same time, she felt really sorry for him right now because of Luke and him having to deal with his mother and all of that, and she just wanted to give him a hug and be there for him (and she found herself wanting him to want the aforementioned hug as well). But she also was terrified of the idea of getting too close to him, of reigniting all of their chemistry which she knew would happen with a single touch. They always had a ton of sparks between them, she never could deny that, but that didn't mean they were right for each other. She loved Logan, she really did, and she had been dating him for two full years now. She should be over Jess by now. So why wasn't she? She was so confused.

Jess stared at her in amazement as she went through all of these thoughts in her head. He was going to ask her what she had been planning to say after the "but", however he decided against it when he saw how lost in thought she was. He gave her time to think and without a word went back to reading his book. It took her another minute or so to notice.

"I was heading to Lane's," Rory said, changing the topic and finding an excuse to leave. "So I probably should get going. She's expecting me," she lied.

"Okay, bye," Jess replied as she started walking away. Then she turned back to him.

"By the way, my mom told April's mom about Luke. So April will know," Rory informed Jess.

"Oh. Right. I should have thought of her," Jess said, feeling stupid.

"No it's fine, it's taken care of, don't worry about it," Rory said. "I just didn't want you to suddenly remember and call her or something, since my mom already... informed them of the situation," she ended awkwardly. Then she really left for Lane's, and Jess stared after her, even after she was out of his sight. Then he sighed and went back to reading, once again trying to distract himself from everything.


	9. Luke's Test Results

Luke woke up the next morning, about 24 hours after Lorelai, Christopher, Rory, Liz, and Jess had left. As he slowly opened his eyes, he realized something was wrong; he felt very disoriented and confused. He looked around his surroundings, and could tell he was in a hospital, but he didn't remember why or how. His vision was slightly blurred and he had a headache. He tried to move, but his whole right side felt awkwardly stiff and he was having some trouble moving it. He didn't know what in the world had happened to him, but he was pretty sure it was something serious, and suddenly he was getting very nervous and scared.

A nurse glanced into his room and saw him waking up, so she came over and warmly greeted him. She touched his shoulder comfortingly as she informed him that it was normal to be confused and disoriented for the first few days after having a cerebral aneurysm burst. She told him that he should try to relax and that she would call his family for him now and get the doctor as well. Luke nodded, swallowed, then tried to stop worrying and just relax, but it wasn't really working for him. _I had an aneurysm?_ He couldn't really wrap his mind around the concept.

Jess answered the phone when it rang because TJ and Liz were busy fussing over Doula, changing her diaper or something. Why they needed two people to do that, Jess wasn't sure, but he wasn't complaining. Otherwise one of them would still be out here, trying to talk to him.

"Hello?" Jess answered hastily, because he was more than ready for news on Luke to arrive, and he was fairly certain this would be the hospital calling.

"Hello, may I speak to a relative of Luke Danes?" said the female voice on the other end of the line.

"Yeah, I'm his nephew," Jess impatiently answered.

"Okay. Your uncle is awake and it'd be good if you or at least someone in his immediate circle of friends or family could come down here to visit him as soon as possible, because right now he is alone and a bit disoriented and confused," the woman informed him. "It would be comforting for him to have someone who knows him here."

Jess bit his lip, then said, "But he doesn't remember the last 20 years of his life, so would it really be comforting for someone like me, who he doesn't remember, to be there?"

The person on the other side of the conversation assured him, "Yes, he might not know who you are, but I've seen cases like this before, and just knowing that there are people who know who he's supposed to be and who care is comforting in and of itself, I swear."

Jess nodded, thinking to himself for a moment and taking it all in. "Okay, well then I'll be sure to be there as soon as I can, and I'll bring a few people with me too probably. Is there anything else that we should know?" Jess desperately added, "He was going in for tests yesterday, don't you have the results now or something?"

"Yes, the results are back, but the doctor wishes to discuss them with you in person, I'm sorry," the receptionist (or whoever it was) told Jess in her _'I-have-to-spell-this-out-for-everyone-and-it-gets-really-annoying-but-I'm-trying-to-still-sound-nice-anyway'_ voice.

Jess sighed then said, "Thanks." He hung up the phone and went to go tell Liz and TJ. He walked in and luckily Doula was fully clothed now.

"Hey guys, um, that was the hospital calling," Jess said, and he waited for them to react. Liz looked up instantly and TJ looked up a second or two after that. "Yeah, they wouldn't tell me much over the phone, just that it'd be good if people who cared about Luke and knew who he was went down there to visit him, ASAP."

"Okay sounds good," Liz said, and then she turned towards her daughter and her husband. "We could all go to the hospital, right?" she asked her husband, somewhat rhetorically. TJ nodded. Jess didn't really love the idea of TJ and the baby coming, but it probably wouldn't be that bad either.

Jess walked over to the passenger's side of the car and put his hand on the door, then hesitated as he looked behind them. TJ was putting a huge baby bag and stroller in the trunk, and Liz was carrying Doula in her arms and heading towards the backseat, where there was a car seat.

"Would you like me to drive?" Jess offered. He was a little nervous that if Liz or TJ drove, the baby would be a big distraction for them.

"Sure hun, you can drive if you want," Liz said. She was standing outside of the vehicle with her head, arms, and upper body completely hidden in the car, buckling her daughter up. She leaned back out of the car and dug the keys out of her pocket, then tossed them to Jess. He caught them and started heading over to the driver's side.

TJ came into the car and sat in the passenger's seat, and Liz climbed into the back with her daughter. Jess started driving towards the highway, but then Liz said, "Shouldn't we stop by Lorelai's and tell them to follow us there too?"

Jess really hated this idea; he didn't want to face Rory, and it would be very awkward to explain to Luke who Lorelai was – his ex-best friend and ex-fiancé who is currently married to another man. He tried to figure out a way to convince his mother that stopping by the Gilmore's house would not be the best idea. "I'm not so sure we need so many people in the room at once, it's already the four of us, if you count Doula..." he said, trailing off.

But his mother shook her head. "Nonsense, Luke loves Lorelai more than anyone and despite the whole Christopher situation, she still loves him too, everyone knows it. If anyone would be able to comfort him, it'd be her. She should be there." Jess wondered when his mother had gotten so wise, and he realized Liz really did have a point. So he turned towards the Gilmore residence, hoping Rory wasn't there. Maybe he'd be lucky and she would have spent the night with Lane, and still be over at her house – it was still pretty early in the morning after all.

The whole entourage got out of the car, and Jess rolled his eyes as he watched his mother going through all the trouble of unbuckling his sister. Then they went up to the door, where Jess took the lead and knocked. Chris answered the door; he looked like he'd been up for a while. "Hi," he said, a bit taken aback by the sight of all of them. "I'll go wake Lorelai," he said, and Jess could tell from his tone of voice that he wasn't exactly in a good mood today. "You guys are welcome to come in and sit on the couch while you wait," he said, and then he hurried up the stairs to the master bedroom.

Jess looked around; the house looked quite a bit different from the outside, probably because it had been remodeled. He hadn't been in the house for over 3 years, but the living room essentially looked the same, although the TV was very different... _That must have been Christopher's doing_ , he thought to himself.

Lorelai came downstairs about 5 minutes later, and she seemed to have dressed and gotten ready in more of a rush than Jess would have thought possible for her. She was ready to go to the hospital, although no one had specifically told her they were doing that – she just assumed correctly, apparently. She grabbed her purse off the table and seemed to be ready to follow Jess and his family out of the door, when she suddenly turned back and looked at Chris. He had slowly followed her back down the stairs, and he was uncertainly glancing back and forth between his coat and Lorelai, silently asking her whether or not he should come with her. Lorelai twisted her mouth and seemed to be considering what to tell him, and looked at him meaningfully. What exactly the look was supposed to mean Jess wasn't quite sure, and apparently Christopher couldn't tell either.

He sighed and said, "Lor, please, just tell me what you want me to do." He glanced at their company quickly, then avoided eye contact with everyone by turning his line of sight to the floor. "I can be there for you, or I can be out of the way for you. I'm willing to do whatever," he said in a very resigned tone.

"Chris, I think it might be better if it was only people who really know Luke, that's all," Lorelai said, trying not to hurt his feelings. "It's not that I need you out of the way, not at all, but..." she trailed off, slowly turning her head towards her feet, before she quickly looked back up at him. "I just think it'd be more awkward if you were there. You understand, right?"

Chris nodded. "Yeah of course," he said. She turned to leave with everyone else, finally, but then Chris called after her for one last thing. "Um Lor," he started, "What about Rory?"

Lorelai looked back at him, and said, "I'll call her and tell her... everything." She smiled sadly at him, and then finally left the house with Jess, Liz, TJ, and the baby.

* * *

Once the door had closed behind Lorelai, Jess briefly explained that it'd be good for Luke to see as many people who cared about him as possible. Liz offered Lorelai the last seat in their car, but rather than squeeze in the backseat Lorelai insisted she could drive herself. She then got out her cell phone and hit her speed-dial for Rory aS she got into her Jeep.

Lorelai was glad to have privacy while she summed up for Rory everything that had happened with Christopher the previous afternoon. She drove as she talked, explaining how remarkably understanding Chris had been, and how it sort of seemed like he half expected her to say the things that came out of her mouth.

"However," Lorelai added, "He did seem quite sad about it all, and I feel so awful about everything." Lorelai didn't want to start crying while she was driving, so she took a deep breath and tried to keep her composure. "Yes, we did still both sleep in the same bed last night and we didn't officially break up or anything yet. Yeah, you're at Lane's still right? Good, because I'm here now," Lorelai finished, pulling up into Lane and Zack's driveway.

Lorelai parked and waited for her daughter **,** who in no time ran out of the house and up to the car. "Mom! What? Why are you here? Why didn't you tell me you were coming to pick me up?" she asked incredulously.

"We have to go to the hospital and visit Luke, he's awake. He needs lots of visitors to comfort him and show him how much he's loved. So get your butt in the car, Missy." Lorelai tried to sound light-hearted and joking **,** but wasn't very successful. Rory got into the passenger's seat and they drove off towards the highway.

"Mom," Rory said, "Does April know that Luke is awake?" Lorelai shook her head 'no', so Rory got out her cell phone and started dialing.

"You've memorized April's phone number? Since when?" Lorelai asked.

"Since this morning when I looked it up on Lane's computer. I figured it'd be useful to know, and sure enough, well... it's ringing so shh," Rory said, putting the phone up to her ear. "Hi, is this April?" she asked. "Yeah, it's Rory, we met once... good. Well your mom told you about... um... your dad, right? Yeah I know. Uh huh. Well, if you wanted to visit him in the hospital, now would be a totally acceptable and good time to do it. Yeah. Yeah ask your mom. I hope so too. I'll see you there. Bye April," she finished.

Lorelai smiled at her daughter, glad that she remembered to do that. It would be good for both April and Luke to see each other, for different reasons, but they both really did need this.

* * *

 

Jess looked for Luke's doctor, and when he saw him, went right up to him.

"Oh hi, you're Luke's..."

"Nephew," Jess finished for him.

"Right. Hi. I'll be with you in just a second," he said.

Jess inched back slightly, giving the man some space. He was usually a remarkably patient person, but he was finding it difficult to keep waiting and waiting for information on Luke. He felt like he'd been waiting for days, and the days were the longest days he'd ever experienced.

Finally the doctor came over to Jess and Liz and wasted some time shaking hands with TJ and complimenting Doula, which kind of made Jess want to strangle him. _Could you just get on with the information, please?_ He silently begged him. After the pleasantries were out of the way, the doctor explained that aneurysms have really difficult and lengthy recovery periods, and that they should be prepared, but that in Luke's case things looked pretty good. Jess nodded, bracing himself for what he was about to hear.

The doctor continued, "Luke is one of the best possible examples of a patient after a ruptured aneurysm and stroke. We tested him and he is able to speak, read, and write still, even though many people in his situation wouldn't be able to do those things. His vision is only slightly impaired, and that had a good chance of improving with time. Even if it doesn't improve, Luke will be able to adjust to it; he still has the ability to see. Which is a very good thing," the doctor assured them. "He has some weakness on his right side, and so he'll need to go to physical therapy for a while, and until he regains enough strength in his right leg he will have to stay in a wheelchair." Jess and Liz looked at each other, pretty upset by this prospect. "However," the doctor noted, seemingly trying to downplay Luke's condition, "It's really a considerably minor weakness compared to what it could be, and Luke is actually very lucky."

"Wow," Liz said. "So this is what it's like when everything goes well?" Jess had never agreed with his mother more.

"Yeah and what about his memory? He still doesn't remember the past twenty years?" Jess asked.

"Unfortunately, I'm afraid so. And also, and this is quite common with post-aneurysm patients, he's having issues with his short term memory. Both of these things usually improve over time, and he should slowly remember the past and eventually he will be able to remember short term things better too. But for now, you'll need a lot of patience with him. He probably will wake up every day for the next few weeks and need to be reminded of where he is and that he had an aneurysm." Jess was horrified, Luke's memory was even worse than he thought.

"I know it's really daunting to hear all of this all at once," the doctor said. "If you have any questions, I'm always happy to answer them. Now, I think Luke has been alone in the room for long enough; I think now would be a good time to go in and say 'hi'," he said, smiling slightly and gesturing towards the room.


	10. Everyone Visits Luke

Jess walked into the room slowly, prepared to have to re-introduce himself and thus confused and surprised by what looked like a look of recognition on Luke's face. It almost seemed like Luke's face lit up when he saw him. Jess didn't want to get his hopes up, but he cautiously approached him then asked, "Luke? Do you... do you recognize me?"

Luke slowly nodded. "I don't really remember much of anything, and I don't remember your name, but..." he trailed off and looked up at Jess, squinting at him, seemingly trying to really analyze his face and make sure he was who he thought he was. "I stole your car to try to make you go to school, I remember that!" Luke confidently announced. Jess was stunned, to say the least. _Oh wow, that was why he did it. I should have guessed,_ Jess mused. And more to the point, of all the things Luke could have remembered, Jess couldn't help but find it hilarious that this was the single thing he was sure of.

"You're right," Jess said, finally allowing himself to actually grin. "You did. I'm... I'm so happy you remember me," Jess said genuinely. "My name's Jess, by the way." He knew Luke didn't really remember him, not yet, but he remembered something, and that was more than Jess had been letting himself hope for. Luke actually kind of remembered him. Even though it was practically nothing, to Jess it felt like a cause for celebration and he was feeling the urge to set off some fireworks (and no, not because he was a rebel and wanted to break Connecticut law, although that would be an added perk).

"So," Luke said. "You're... are you my... son?" he asked, really unsure of himself. And Jess was jerked away from his imaginary firework display back to reality.

"Oh, um, no," Jess said. "You _were_ my guardian for a little while though," he continued, and he smiled softly, realizing that Luke really wasn't that far off in thinking he was his son, a thought that slightly surprised Jess and warmed his heart a bit. He looked at Luke, attempting with his eyes to reassure him that he wasn't really that confused. "I'm your nephew, your sister Liz's son," he finished.

Luke nodded and then turned away, lost in thought. He started saying to himself, "Right, I have a sister, I remember that now."

"She's actually right outside if you want to-" Jess almost said "meet" her, as if he'd never been introduced to her before, but he stopped himself. "If you wanted to talk to her?"

"Oh. Yeah... sure," Luke replied. Jess nodded and then left the room quickly to go get her.

Liz entered the room holding Doula, while Jess stayed in the waiting room. He wanted to make sure TJ didn't go in there and say something insanely insensitive to Luke, which was very likely – TJ didn't strike him as the most tactful person in the world. They sat there for a few minutes and then Rory and Lorelai arrived.

"Where did Rory come from?" TJ asked, and Lorelai explained about how she made a detour to pick her up, but Jess was only half listening to her answer because Rory was of course very distracting. How could she look so much more beautiful now than she did when they were dating? It was like as she got older and more mature, she became less like a fragile beautiful girl and more like a delicate beautiful woman.

Lorelai walked over to Luke's room and lingered near the doorway, not wanting to interrupt Liz and Luke's moment. Liz noticed her though. She joyfully said, "Lorelai!" then waved her in.

"Hi," Lorelai said timidly, glancing from Luke to Liz and then back to Luke.

"Hey Doula, do you remember Lorelai? Your Uncle Luke here introduced you to her," Liz said in baby-talk to her daughter. Lorelai smiled sweetly at the infant and over-dramatized a little wave. Liz took Doula's arm and moved it in the motion of waving back. Then she glanced up at Lorelai and her face lit up. "He remembers a little something about Jess after all," Liz said excitedly.

"Really?" Lorelai said, pleasantly surprised. She glanced at Luke again, feeling awkward that this conversation about him was happening right in his presence. They were talking as if he wasn't right there, as if he couldn't hear everything.

Liz nodded enthusiastically. "He might remember something about you, you never know." She smiled at Lorelai and then said, "I'll leave you two alone now. Doula, say bye-bye to your Uncle Luke."

Once she was out of the room, Lorelai approached his bedside carefully. He looked at her intensely. She wasn't sure if he was remembering something about her, or if he was merely straining himself in an attempt to remember something. She waited patiently for him to say something, and after what felt like an eternity, he did.

"You proposed to me, I remember that," Luke said a little shakily. He paused, and then seemed to regain his confidence in his memory. He said more determinedly, "You asked me to marry you. I can't remember anyone's name, I'm sorry, but... are you my wife or something?"

Lorelai was speechless, and she didn't even realize she was tearing up until Luke suddenly looked concerned.

"What's wrong? Am I totally wrong about this?" he asked. "I'm sorry my memory is really messed up," he mumbled, sounding ashamed.

"What?" she asked, confused for a second before realizing that she was the one who needed to explain herself. "Oh gosh no, don't apologize!" she protested, a bit too emphatically, so much so that it scared him a bit. "I did propose to you, and we got engaged..." she hesitated, not sure of how to finish explaining everything that had happened since the proposal to him. "It's just that we broke up before we ever got married," she stated simply, obvious sadness and regret dripping from her voice.

"Oh," Luke replied. "Well then, if you don't mind my asking... why are you still here visiting me in the hospital then, if you're my ex?"

The words stung; She was his ex. He never would have worded it like that if he really remembered everything, and she knew that, but it didn't really help. In fact, the reminder that he definitely didn't remember how he felt about her, and who they were to each other... it hurt more than it should, considering she knew that already. Somehow, with two little words, it felt like he was accidentally throwing salt in her wound.

He was staring at her, waiting for an answer to his question. "Oh," she said. "Why am I here? Well... because... because I'm your best friend, I have been for forever and just because we broke up it doesn't mean I stopped caring about you." She wanted to add "because I love you, and you love me, and we never should have broken up in the first place," but she didn't. She knew there was a better time and place for that than now.

Lorelai wanted to help Luke remember more about his life. She wasn't sure where to begin though. "Do you... do you remember stuff about your parents?" she asked, a bit nervously. She didn't really want to have to inform him that they were both dead.

"Yeah, my mom... she made great chocolate chip cookies," he said, letting himself get lost in thought. "She was a wonderful cook in general actually, but I was a little kid so my favorite food was her cookies." Lorelai smiled, knowing he must have gotten his culinary talents from her. Also it amused her to think of a time when Luke was too young to be a health nut. "I remember her letting Liz brush her hair," he continued. "I remember when she died, it was the first and only time I ever saw my dad cry," he said solemnly. On that heartbreaking cue, Lorelai put one of her hands on his arm comfortingly. He looked up at her, and a look of realization slowly started to come across his face. "My dad had cancer, I remember he got really sick and I had to take care of the hardware store while he was bedridden." Lorelai bit her lip, anticipating his next realization. "He died too, didn't he?" he said in the most childish, fragile tone Lorelai had ever heard escape his mouth.

She whispered, "I'm so sorry. But yeah." And with that he looked away, caught in a small wave of disappointment and grief. But it quickly was interrupted by an unfamiliar voice.

"Dad!" April yelled, running into the room and Lorelai quickly stepped back, making room for his daughter to hug him. She threw herself on top of him and held him as tightly as she could, considering the awkward angles and positioning involved in hugging someone who is lying in bed, while one is still standing. Luckily April was on top of his right arm, which was his weak side, so he was able to hug her back with his left arm. He didn't remember her at all, but he knew he must be her father since she had yelled "dad", and he could feel her love for him in this wonderfully sweet hug. He smiled at her as she slowly pulled away.

"Hi," she said, "I'm not sure if you remember me, it's totally okay if you don't, but I'm April. Your daughter."

"Hi," he said. He was surprised to have a daughter, and was confused to have not known about her sooner. _Why didn't his nephew or sister say something? Did this mean he had a wife too?_ He looked at April. She had to be over 10 years old for sure, he calculated. Maybe closer to 15 even. That's a long time, why couldn't he remember _anything_ about her? He desperately tried to think of something, but nothing was coming to mind.

"Um, I'm sorry I don't remember anything," he apologized, "But do you mind telling me who your mother is?"

"Oh yeah sure my mom is Anna Nardini, you dated her about 14 years ago, and you broke up with her before she found out she was pregnant, and she never told you about me. I just found you of my own accord about a year or so ago," she explained confidently, seemingly not phased by Luke's condition as much as Lorelai and Jess were.

"Oh, interesting," Luke said. So this daughter of his he'd only known for about a year. No wonder he couldn't really remember her. He took in the facts she just told him and as it all registered, he felt guilty about not having been a part of most of her life. Even if, according to her, it was her mother's fault for not ever telling him she existed.

* * *

Back in the waiting room, Jess, Rory, Liz, TJ, and Doula were all waiting patiently. Doula had fallen asleep and Rory was admiring her. This was the first time she'd seen Doula.

TJ broke the silence, asking, "So what's the deal with your parents? They were acting so weird this morning. Do you know what's going on with them?"

"Oh," Rory said. "Um, they..." she glanced from TJ to Jess, then to Liz, and finally back to TJ. "My mom told my dad that she's still in love with Luke." She shrugged her shoulders, as if to indicate she wasn't sure if this was an ultimately sad thing or not, and to show that she wasn't completely heartbroken over the idea. "They will probably be getting divorced soon," she finished, shifted in her chair uncomfortably and moving her stare to her feet.

Jess said, "I'm sorry." He said it without thinking, and it was kind of a lie, because ultimately he had always been on Luke's side. But he didn't like the idea of Rory being upset, he couldn't help it, regardless of all that had transpired between them. And your parents getting divorced was always something that made everyone upset. So it had to be affecting Rory somehow, and for that he really was sorry.

* * *

 

When everyone was finished visiting with Luke, the physical therapist came in to meet with him for the first time. He helped Luke sit up on his own and showed him how to work his new wheelchair he was going to be using once he left the hospital in a few days. It was going to be a slow process of recovery, and Luke was going to have to be very patient. They kept assuring him that he was doing _so well_ for an aneurysm recovery patient though, and he wasn't sure what to make of it. Should he be grateful? All he could feel was annoyed and he just wished they would shut up and stop telling him how much worse things could have been.


	11. Post-Hospital Planning

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Special thanks to WonderTwinC on YouTube/KouenTaisa on twitter who beta-ed this chapter for me. :D Per usual if you see any mistakes and she and I both missed, feel free to let me know.
> 
> I feel like I have to tell you guys... between the previous chapter being written and this one, in real life, my Uncle Mike got a stroke... and the coincidence/irony was so awful, considering how I'd done all this research on strokes and stuff for this story, and was writing about it, and then it happened. I haven't been around in person or even talked to anyone in his immediate family firsthand since it happened, but my dad heard the whole story from my grandmother and conveyed it to me... and then again on Easter recently he saw my aunt (uncle's wife) & my cousins (uncle's daughters) and found out more and again relayed all the information to me.
> 
> It was so eerie, almost like I'd predicted it or caused it or something, even though I'm not the least bit superstitious and know that's not true, it still sorta feels like it. My Uncle Mike had a headache for over a day before it and even had to skip work it was so bad, and if he/his family had talked to me I would have immediately thought that he might be at risk for exactly what Luke had in my story, and sure enough he was. But they didn't talk to me... and I didn't find out until days after his stroke had happened, and he was completely unable to speak and his whole side of his body was paralyzed and they weren't even sure if he'd survive. I just felt so uncomfortable writing about Luke being so much better off than my uncle and kept not getting up the nerve/motivation to finish this, which delayed this chapter being finished for a bit.
> 
> Now, in April 2014, about 3 years after my Uncle Mike's stroke, I realize that Luke definitely is *way* better off than my poor uncle was/is. But that's the way I'd already written it, I couldn't change it now. Luke doesn't have his memories and can't move half of his body really, he isn't coming out of this fictional stroke unscathed either though. My Uncle Mike... he still has severe aphasia, even 3 years later (in my Uncle Mike's case, he can't really speak, although he seems to be able to understand fine when people talk to him) and some risk of seizures and weakness on the whole right side of his body. He walks with a cane very slowly and only really can use one of his hands. He can't do so much - he can't even use the internet at all because he is unable to type/write which is the same part of the brain as not being able to speak. I think he can read though, just like he can understand spoken words. Still, he is severely disabled and it makes life very difficult for his whole family. He seems... happy to be alive though. What happened to Mike breaks my heart for both him and his wife and daughters, but I am glad he survived the stroke and still is able to experience some good things in life. I'm glad he doesn't seem miserable.
> 
> So anyway, back to my Luke fic... FINALLY, it's here! The second-to-last chapter of my Luke/Jess (Luke/Lorelai & Rory/Jess) fic. 
> 
> ~~~~
> 
> By the way the Chris with whom Jess is speaking when this chapter starts is the Chris of Matt & Chris at Truncheon books. And one of the guys whom I am assuming Jess meant when he told Luke in 6x18 "The Real Paul Anka" that he and a couple of guys were sharing an apartment upstairs. Also, I get this from many, many, future Jess fanfics where that seems to be the case. XD I thought TV shows had a rule; never ever ever have 2 characters who have the same name, not even ridiculously common ones like mine & my somewhat usual beta's name (Emily) lmao... Gilmore Girls only had one Emily... and Lorelai and Rory obviously don't count... but Gilmore Girls did have two characters named Chris on the show haha. Although one (Rory's dad) is pretty much always called his full name "Christopher" and only Lorelai calls him Chris, just like he's the only one to call her "Lor", so I guess it's almost different... Anyway... so the Chris in the first line of this chapter is Jess's roommate in Philadelphia.

"Wow, Jess, that's intense," Chris replied to Jess over the phone. "I totally understand why you've been MIA now. So who's gonna take care of Luke when he is released from the hospital? You? Or... will he be staying with his sister? I hope it's not you Jess, we'll miss you down here!"

Jess could hear something that sounded like an affirmation from his other roommate Matt in the background.

"Oh jeez... I hadn't really thought about that. Luke's just been in the hospital this whole time... I wasn't thinking ahead. Maybe I _should_ stay here in this ridiculous town... my mom has a new baby to deal with. As a matter of fact I still really don't know if I trust her enough to be able to handle that little girl, but I've been trying to convince myself she and her husband will do okay. Still, adding the huge responsibility of taking care of her brother... I don't even know if she'd agree to it!"

"Well Jess, do what you have to do, but... we won't be able to continue paying you for working if you really don't come back, and we'll actually have to hire someone new... and find a new roommate too. I wish it didn't have to be that way, but... we can't really afford... well... you know..." Chris drifted off, hoping Jess would understand.

"Oh yeah of course," Jess said. "I... don't give away my bed just yet, I need to figure a few things out... I'll let you know as soon as I know," he added, pausing for a moment while he thought. "But I think my uncle probably has some money saved up... and I can find a new job if I'm really going to be living here." Jess paused, thinking about how Luke almost definitely had some money saved somewhere, considering he was never one to waste money and owned and ran a whole diner. But Luke probably wouldn't be of much use in remembering where this money was nor would he remember how to access it, even if it did exist. Jess would figure something out though. Realizing Chris was still on the line, he continued, "And of course moving back into my uncle's place would be rent free; he owns it."

While Chris and Jess were finishing up their conversation, April was hugging Luke goodbye in the hospital.

"I don't know if I'll have any time to visit you here again," she told him regretfully. "My mom's taking me to New Mexico tomorrow night. I know you don't remember but we're... we're moving there." Luke looked at her, surprisingly saddened by the sudden news. He didn't remember anything about this girl prior to his aneurysm, but that didn't matter. He didn't remember much of anything from before being in this hospital bed, and still he quickly felt strong emotions of love for all five of his now frequent visitors: Jess, Liz, April, Lorelai, and Rory. "My grandma is really sick... and my mom wants to be with her. I don't want to go, you're sick too and I want to be with _you_ ," she said, starting to cry a little. She glanced away and tried in vain to regain her composure. She loved her grandmother too, but she'd always wanted a father and now when she finally had one... she just hated it.

"Aw, sweetie," he said, reaching up with his only good arm to wipe away her tears, "I hate to see you go too, but your grandma probably needs you guys more than I do." He knew what he was saying was true; he was successfully recovering, he had four other people who seemed to care a lot about him right here in Stars Hollow, and while he didn't know a single thing about Anna's mother's condition nor if the woman had anyone else to take care of her, he had a sneaking suspicion that she was elderly, lonely, and quite possibly dying. Otherwise, he figured, Anna wouldn't be moving across the country for her and stealing away his beautiful daughter.

* * *

Jess sat on the bed in the guest room of his mother's house, still feeling like he was... not unwelcome, his mother had been _very_ welcoming, just... he felt very out of place. He didn't _belong_ in this storybook house in the storybook town, as if he was member of this quirky Renaissance Fair family. He knew Luke's apartment was a much better fit for him, if he was going to be forced to live anywhere in Stars Hollow. He missed Philadelphia, he had been building such a good life for himself there, and he really did like living in cities. Still... even Philly didn't feel like the perfect fit for him. He was too much of a New Yorker at heart, and he always planned to go back there eventually. Preferably with Rory, but that appeared truly out of the question. She was still happily dating that jerk, apparently. Going to _London_ , an expensive trip no doubt, at Christmas... that almost sounded more like a fairy tale than Stars Hollow, he realized. Well. Maybe not a fairy tale... but certainly it would be a scene out of some sweet, romantic, cliché novel of which Rory was probably a huge fan. She'd probably have the time of her life and even get engaged or something while on the trip. He realized he needed to know more about Logan. He was too curious now. Dean, he understood. He was all Rory knew at the time, and he was sweet to her. He was an idiot, but he gave her a bracelet he'd made himself, and took her to town events that she loved, and her mother was in love with him for being such a good boy. He understood what Rory saw in Dean, in fact Jess had completely understood that whole boring relationship from pretty much the first time he saw them together. But Logan... he was an asshole! What was Rory thinking? How could she have fallen for him, and what could she see in him? How were they happy? Was Rory actually in love with this guy this time and not just trying to convince herself like she was with Dean? He kind of believed her with the way she pulled away from their kiss at Truncheon Books, insisting she couldn't help it, she was in love with him. It really _felt_ like she was telling the truth. When she was dating Dean but kissed _him_ anyway at Sookie's wedding, she wasn't using Jess to get back at someone for cheating, nor did she leave saying she was still in love with her current boyfriend. That first kiss had a very different feel, but this last one... it'd been months and he still was trying to decipher what she said and if it all was true. Especially the whole "loving Logan" part.

He tried to distract himself from his thoughts by reading a new book he'd picked up at Andrew's. He'd actually paid for it and left the store this time, which he could tell made the bookstore owner happy. Still, he somehow couldn't focus for once. He decided to go ask Lorelai about Logan. Or well... surreptitiously try to get the information out of her without being too obvious. He knew she'd tell Rory, but he was too curious, and was feeling surprisingly brave. Or maybe his current state of boredom had actually driven him to insanity. He wasn't sure as he walked out of the room, past his sister who was taking her afternoon nap, and grabbed his coat and keys.

He was nearing the Gilmore driveway when he slowed down to a near stop, observing the scene outside the house from a distance. Rory appeared to be hugging her father goodbye while Lorelai put what was probably Christopher's last box into the trunk of his car. He didn't expect Rory to be there, or for Chris to still be in the process of moving out. He tried to back-up and turn around, hoping to disappear unnoticed by the clan.

Lorelai, however, spotted him immediately. She took a few moments staring at him, trying to recognize him from so far away in his unfamiliar car. Rory caught her mother's gaze, followed it to discover their new visitor as well, and then recognized Jess immediately but didn't say a word. Chris was distracted and didn't even notice anyone was there. Lorelai walked up to Jess's window with Rory following.

Jess took a deep breath, trying to come up with an excuse, a plan... _something_ to say that would make sense and not in the slightest give away his true motivations for stopping by. He didn't want to appear rude, so he rolled down the window, still thinking frantically.

Lorelai's walk had quickened and when she reached his car she hurriedly asked if anything was wrong and if Luke was okay. Jess's eyes widened.

"Oh yeah everyone's fine, nothing's wrong. I didn't mean to scare you," Jess assured her, sorry he'd inadvertently caused so much fear and worry just by his presence. But Luke. Right. Lorelai had reminded him of the most recent issue that had arisen for Jess – what's going to happen once Luke is released from the hospital. Rory was by now caught up with Lorelai but purposefully lingering a few feet back.

Smoothly, without Lorelai nor her daughter realizing that Jess was making this up on the fly, Jess said, "Actually, I did come here to ask you a question about Luke though. He's going to be released from the hospital soon...and...well I was thinking of staying here in Stars Hollow to take care of him. And I thought maybe you'd know if he had any money saved up. I mean obviously I'll get my own new job around here..." Jess trailed off, hoping his question wasn't too presumptuous.

"Oh!" Lorelai said. "Wow. Um... yeah, Luke has saved up a lot of his money, in his bank account... but wait, you're going to be taking care of Luke here in Stars Hollow?" Her surprised tone shifted to a somewhat pitying one as she added, "Indefinitely?"

Jess shrugged his shoulders indifferently. "Yeah, I mean I guess so. It's fine. I can still write my sequel wherever I am, regardless of my day job." He smiled to reassure Lorelai that he was seriously okay with this arrangement. Really he was. What he said was true. And he cared too much about Luke, he couldn't abandon him at a time like this.

Rory asked, "What about the diner?" Lorelai turned around, she and Jess having forgotten she was standing there.

"Oh I don't know," Jess replied. "I don't really think I could run it myself, and I don't know when Luke would be ready to do it again either, probably not for... years," he said sadly. "I mean, I know it's Luke's... it's _his_ diner..." he looked seriously at Rory, lost for words. He looked back to Lorelai and then stared at the ground for a moment, thinking. Glancing back up at both of them, he asked, "What do _you_ think I should do?"


	12. Christmas

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the end! Special thanks to MissGoalie75 for beta-ing this final chapter for me!

Gigi was still in Paris with her mother so Christopher was alone, spending the holiday with his mother. Lorelai's daughter was also across the Atlantic Ocean, but she was not forced to spend the day with Emily and Richard (although as much as Lorelai would hate to admit it, she actually wouldn't mind that turn of events, especially considering how surprisingly nice her mother had been about the divorce and how she'd almost lost her father recently). Instead, Lorelai was enjoying the day with Jess, Luke, Liz, TJ, and Doula.

Luke was staying with Lorelai now; she had insisted that she be the one to take care of him as he recovered. She was lonely anyway, and Luke living in an apartment with no wheelchair access of any kind would be impractical. Plus, she still had strong feelings for Luke, which was the reason she and Chris ended things. She'd discussed it with Jess and Liz and they agreed that as long as Lorelai was truly okay with this arrangement, they were happy. Jess insisted on staying for a couple more weeks to help get things settled though. Matt and Chris promised they could hold off on giving his job and bed away if he would be back by January.

Luke was going through intensive physical therapy. The therapist specialized in stroke recovery and came all the way from Hartford to Lorelai's house for two to three hours daily. Soon they'd scale back the intensive schedule. Luke was frustrated with his limitations but very glad to be improving. He still couldn't do much, but he was finally able to do things by himself, such as using the bathroom, which he was beyond grateful for. He also was slowly remembering things and while lots was still confusing for him, he started to remember his diner and random tidbits of Rory, Jess, and Lorelai. He loved the way they'd light up when he shared the memories; it was hard to describe just how good it made him feel. He talked briefly on the phone to April daily; he didn't have much else to do. He never had much to say but luckily life in New Mexico was exciting enough that April could do most of the talking. He wanted to read the book Jess had published desperately because he couldn't remember it at all. But he couldn't really read much yet; he found (to his dismay) that reading was a skill he had to completely re-learn. He remembered knowing how to read before, and was surprised that when he looked at words on pages they meant nothing to him. The stroke therapist was also helping him with that.

He spent a lot of quality time with Jess, though they weren't really talkers. Lorelai would go to work at the Inn and leave Luke with some DVDs of the old classic _Twilight Zone_ and _The Outer Limits_ , and Jess would sit on the couch next to Luke and read, ignoring the TV. Jess hoped reading in front of Luke wasn't too rude. He didn't want to leave the room and write... because when they were sitting beside each other, despite doing their own things, both could tell they weren't alone and it was more pleasant that way; less lonely.

Lorelai would come home and usually bring home some takeout from Al's Pancake World or the local Chinese place, and sometimes Jess would stay and eat with them. Jess would always offer to cut up Luke's food for him when he stayed and Lorelai would talk about every single detail of her day while Luke smiled and fell in love with her all over again. Jess would watch and be happy for them, but Lorelai reminded him a bit too much of Rory, and he hated his mind for going to her.

Jess would always go back to Liz and TJ's to sleep and Lorelai let Luke sleep in her bed, but she chose to sleep in Rory's/Gigi's room. Lorelai and Luke weren't even really dating again - their relationship was very complicated right now - and so she thought this would be the best option. Jess actually enjoyed seeing his half-sister before her insanely early bedtime; he never thought he'd like babies but he did. He was also getting good at sleeping through her crying in the middle of the night. Sometimes he'd eat dinner with Liz and TJ. He volunteered to cook but his offer was always refused, and instead Liz would cook something that was barely edible. He wished his mother would give him a chance in the kitchen... he actually had a few culinary tricks up his sleeve and he'd love to show them off for someone.

Lorelai was able to convince Liz to let Jess cook Christmas dinner, although she knew Jess had no experience cooking for five; she trusted Jess more than anyone there to make an edible dinner. They all desperately missed Luke's talents at the stove, but no one dared mention it. Even Luke could remember that he used to enjoy cooking, but he knew he couldn't dwell on it. It was now Christmas morning at Liz and TJ's house, and everyone had gotten a sweet little gift for Doula except for Luke, who wouldn't have known what to buy for a baby anyway. Jess had found Luke's blue baseball cap and had wrapped it as a gift for Luke; he knew Luke didn't realize it yet, but this whole living without a hat on 24-7 was so not him. When Luke opened it, Lorelai explained with a huge grin how perfect it was, since she'd given it to him as a Christmas present originally, but Jess had no idea.

Meanwhile in London, Rory was enjoying Christmas with Logan. It was really nice, the whole trip had been. But she realized over the course of it that although she cared for Logan deeply... she'd never really gotten over Jess. Seeing him earlier in the month had really done something to her and she couldn't help but think of what this trip would be like if she was with Jess instead of Logan. She decided, sadly, that she had to break up with Logan and hope Jess would still be interested in her. Even if Jess wanted nothing to do with her, she knew she wasn't as passionately in love with Logan as she should be. With Jess, time passed and yet the feelings stayed alive and strong, but with Logan, the long distance relationship was really difficult. Even if Rory would come out of this alone, it was the right thing to do.

Jess's Christmas dinner at Liz and TJ's house was a huge success, but the next day it was time to get back to Truncheon and do his job. Jess offered to help Lorelai take down the Christmas tree before he left, but Lorelai insisted she wanted it to still be up for when Rory returned and Rory would help her take it down. Then Jess thanked Lorelai for everything she was doing for Luke and said goodbye to Luke, promising him that if he ever wanted to talk, he'd be around. He was a programmed speed dial on Lorelai's phone now, and Luke could read numbers now and handle that. They smiled at each other meaningfully and then Jess got in his car, turned on the radio, and started to drive back to Pennsylvania.

On the plane ride home from England, Rory joked and laughed with Logan one last time, but her smiles were somewhat forced because she knew what she had to do when they landed. Sure enough, in the Newark airport she officially ended things. She hated how shocked and hurt he looked and she felt so guilty and sorry for what she'd just done to him. He didn't want to miss his connecting flight back to Hartford, but Rory wasn't coming. She had to talk to Jess. Newark Airport was luckily an intermodal airport and she was able to catch a train to 30th Street Station in Philadelphia. She had her belongings with her and no good, sensible plan, but she was going to see Jess before she lost her nerve, before she talked to Lane or her mother and they made her see reason.

* * *

Four years later, in December 2010, Jess and Rory drive into Stars Hollow together. Luke and Lorelai are married, _finally_ , and Rory and Jess are happily dating. They're living back in New York where they most belong. The Nardinis had moved back to Connecticut after Anna's mother died that summer of 2007 and April was thrilled to be able to spend all four years of high school back in her hometown with her old friends. Rory and Jess' car passes by Miss Patty's studio and they see a class of little kids trying to dance. Rory glances at Jess, who smirks sweetly and nods. They recognize Lane's twin boys, Kwan and Steve, and Doula amongst the children.

When the car is in park, Rory runs out and hugs her mother. It's been way too long since they've seen each other in person, despite the fact that they talk on the phone daily. Jess sees Luke sitting in his wheelchair on the porch, and raises his eyebrows in greeting. Luke smiles back. Their hello is much less touchy-feely, but somehow just as sweet.

Christmas comes and Luke shows Jess and Rory that he's finally able to really walk again. Lorelai knew but was keeping it a surprise, although she had a lot of trouble not accidentally spilling the news to Rory over the phone. If he needs to walk a long distance, he'll use a cane. But he can do it, and everyone is thrilled. He also is now insisting on re-opening his diner finally, which had just been sitting there, untouched, for about four years.

"Let's get to work immediately!" Lorelai squeals, despite the fact that it's the biggest holiday of the year. But first there are some holiday things to take care of. Luke has a brief "Merry Christmas" exchange with April over the phone, and then they visit Liz and TJ, and Jess hands Doula a gift.

"I really loved this when I was your age," Jess says sweetly and quietly to her. She tears open Rory's careful wrapping with pure enthusiasm, typical of an excited four-year-old and then after seeing it is a book, she considers it for a moment, deep in thought. Then she suddenly hugs Jess' legs hard as a thank you, making him smirk slightly. Luke could swear he can see a slight blush on Jess' cheeks.

Doula's high pitched voice says, as seriously as possible, "I'm learning how to read now. Mom and Uncle Luke have been teaching me words. They have flashcards. I'll need to show them that I'm able to read a whole book soon. So this will be perfect!" Everyone in the room smiles.

"She's really smart, Jess, just like your mom said you were," TJ adds, a surprising amount of fatherly pride in his voice. Jess isn't sure how to react to that, but he smiles and nods.

Liz congratulates Luke on being essentially fully recovered now. His memories are pretty much all returned now, all the important things at least. There may be a few little details here and there that will take some more time to return... but he doesn't feel like a chunk of his life is missing anymore. He remembers exactly what his relationships with Jess, Lorelai, and even Rory had been. He remembers the good and the bad and everything in between, and now he's happier than ever.

Jess, Rory, Luke, and Lorelai say goodbye to Doula and her parents, Luke hugging his sister while standing for the first time since the aneurism, and everybody wishes everybody else a "Merry Christmas." Then the four of them trek through the snowy and deserted streets of Stars Hollow. There are a few flurries in the air. Lorelai doesn't walk so much as dance through the snow, exhilarated that it's a white Christmas. Luke walks behind her, somewhat slowly, using his cane but still confidently heading towards what he is determined to make his diner again.

Jess doesn't have gloves; they're not cool enough for him, so he keeps his hands in his pockets. Rory mocks him relentlessly for this and he enjoys every second of it. She links her arm through his and they walk side-by-side.

Once the four of them reach the diner, they all go to work dusting and making the necessary phone calls to reestablish old business contacts immediately. They feel like a very unique and unusual, but very happy family and each and every member can barely believe they're a part of it. They wouldn't have it any other way, though.

The diner is back up and running in no time. Caesar is the head chef at a restaurant in Woodbury and Lane is busy being a full-time mom and part-time successful musician (Hep Alien just got their own record deal!), so all the employees are new. But the "Now Hiring" signs have to be taken down in no time and everything is a roaring success by mid-January. Rory and Jess took an extended vacation from work but have to return after Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

Luke is busy working the diner again; familiar faces like Babette and Kirk showing up daily, plus, of course, Lorelai every day for lunch. The day Rory and Jess have to drive back to New York, Lorelai meets them for lunch in the diner and Luke surprises them with a goodbye lunch, something not on the menu. It's delicious and everyone vehemently assures him, and then Lorelai says it should be the new special.

"Oh and Luke? Be sure to charge them a _ton_ for it, it's worth it!" She turns to Rory and winks. Rory nods in acknowledgment.

"Jess, you should write it on the board, Rory says. "I mean you _were_ the one to do it the last time Luke had a special. What was that, eight or nine years ago?"

Jess has no clue what she's talking about. He doesn't really remember this, nor understand its significance, but he believes them. He shrugs and gets up, heading towards the chalk. As he carefully writes down the name of the dish Luke has come up with in his best handwriting, he sees Luke cleaning off the counter in anticipation of the next customer. He also notices that Luke, in his classic blue baseball cap and flannel shirt again, is smiling. He is more at home than ever, doing this job, living this life with Lorelai. He is truly happy again.

Jess smiles to himself. He is so glad it has all worked out for him. And he's proud of how far he'd come since losing so much. Then he thinks about Rory and realizes that she was so glad it'd worked out for himself too. When Jess and Rory drive off, disappearing into the distance as Luke and Lorelai watch, Luke thinks the same thing. He's so happy that Jess has become a successful author of now three published works. And Luke is so happy to still be around, and to be able to read them now, and to fully appreciate what his nephew has grown up to accomplish.


End file.
